LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 

Slielf._.Vll ^'V*" 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



THE BOOK OF ENSILAGE; 



OR, THE 



NEW DISPENSATION FOR FARMERS. 



EXPERIENCE WITH "ENSILAGE" AT "WINNING FARM." 



HOW TO PRODUCE MILK FOR ONE CENT PER QUART; BUTTER 

FOR TEN CENTS PER POUND; BEEF FOR FOUR CENTS 

PER POUND ; MUTTON FOR NOTHING IF WOOL 

IS THIRTY CENTS PER POUND. 



By JOHN M. BAILEY, 

Proprietor of "Winning Farm," Billerica, Massachusetts, and Virginia Stock 
Farm, Sussex County, Virginia. 

-^a0 

^ FARMERS' EDITION. /^^"^^ copyrigh;-''^^^ 



P^m..'- 



I beg to express my gratitude to you for the noble efforts you are making in behalf of the cause of 
agricultural science. Ensilage is to prove a great blessing to the world. ... I am very glad that you 
have given us the results of your experience in so neat a volume, and in so clear a manner, that he who 
runs may read." — Marshall P. Wilder. 

" A work of incalculable importance to American farmers." — Levi Stockbridge, President 
Massachusetts Agricultural College. 

" Your • Book of Ensilage ' is received and read through. You seem to have covered the whole 
subject and lapped around it, — Alpha and Omega. It will be greedily read." — J. B. Brown, Trans- 
lator of M. Goffart's " Ensilage of Maize." 



NEW YORK: 
ORANGE JUDD COMPANY, 

245 Broadway. 
1881. 



7r 



Copyright, 1880, 
By JOHN M. BAILEY. 



Press of Mills, Knight If Co., Boston. 



INTRODUCTION TO NEW EDITION. 



When, in the winter of 1879-80, I took the liberty of dedi- 
cating the first edition of the " Book of Ensilage " to the 
"farmers of America," the system of ensilage, so far as related 
to its adaptation to America and to American wants and 
methods, was in that state of uncertainty that no one could 
be found who dared to thoroughly try it, partly on account of 
the expense involved, and perhaps more through an unwilling- 
ness to run the risk of failure, and consequently be compelled 
to bear the ridicule of those who stand ready, whenever a pro- 
gressive man takes a step in advance of the old methods, — in 
hopes that something better may be found which shall serve to 
elevate humanity, or lessen the toils and improve the condition 
of his fellow-man, — to say, until complete success silences them, 
*'I told you so." Could these doubters, these dispensers of 
ridicule, always have had their own way, and prevented pro- 
gressive men from trying, every farmer would to this day have 
carried his grist to mill slung across his horse's back, with a 
stone in one end of the bag to balance the weight of the 
corn in the other. 

The success of my experiments was, however, so complete, 
the results were so startling, but so conclusive, that thousands 
of the most intelligent and progressive farmers and business- 
men with a taste for agriculture, came to "Winning Farm," 
and examined the practical workings of the system of ensilage 
for themselves. So convincing was the exhibition of what they 
saw, that I can truly say that there is to-day, not a State in the 
Union which has not a silo constructed in all material points 
after the "Winning Silos." Nebraska — one of the last we 



4 INTRODUCTION TO NEW EDITION. 

would suppose to economize forage — can boast of having 
the largest silos in America, if not in the world. Dr. Eager 
of Middletown, Orange County, N.Y., visited "Winning Farm" 
early in the winter of 1879-80, and has constructed at West 
Point, Neb., four silos, each 60 feet long, 20 feet deep, and 16 
feet wide, — capacity about 2,0CX) tons. California has its silos, 
as have Florida and Texas. In New England and the Middle 
States, hundreds have been built. At this date (Dec. i, 1880) I 
am in receipt of many letters daily, announcing the openings of 
silos. In every case the success is absolute. Hundreds of suc- 
cessful experiments in 1880 from the one seed sown by me in 
1879! No more doubting. Every farmer is considering how 
he shall build, and where he shall locate, his silos. I do not 
claim the credit of originating the system of ensilage. No 
man can claim that ; for it is older than the Christian era. We 
are all under great obligations to M. Auguste Goffart, a dis- 
tinguished member of the " Central Agricultural Society of 
France," and "Chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur," who spent 
years in patient experimentation before success crowned his 
efforts. I have carefully tested it, and by my success have 
made " Silo " and " Ensilage " household words in every part of 
the land. One of the earliest Latin writers speaks of subter- 
ranean vaults (silos), wherein the ancient Romans used to pre- 
serve fruits, grain, and forage in its green state, in very much 
the same manner as is practised at this time by Mr. O. B. Potter 
of Sing Sing, N.Y. The Mexicans have practised the same pro- 
cess for centuries, and to this day preserve the bulk of their 
forage in the same manner. Probably the idea was carried to 
Mexico by some learned Spanish monk or priest of a practical 
and agricultural turn of mind, who, filled with a religious zeal, 
accompanied the Spanish adventurers in their crusades, which 
resulted in the subjugation of Mexico, and nearly all the 
American continent south of it. 

If the system was thus introduced into America, whether he 
was successful or not in teaching the heathen how to save their 
souls, he certainly taught them how to save their, forage. 

Upon the discovery of America, the Indians in the southern 
part of our country preserved their stores of maize in pits in 



INTRODUCTION TO NEW EDITION. 5 

the ground. As the earth is the common mother of us all, so 
is she the great preserver of all things. The first idea which 
occurred to the primitive man when he wished to preserve any 
thing valuable or which he prized was, without doubt, to bury 
it in the earth. 

So that, after all, the system of ensilage is not so much a 
new dispensation as one of the " lost arts," which, after the 
lapse of centuries, has just been re-discovered, improved, 
adapted to the requirements of modern civilization, and which 
is destined to be the means of producing a revolution in our 
agricultural methods. Allow me, in this introduction to this 
NEW EDITION, to express my cordial thanks and appreciation 
of the by far too-flattering notices which "The Book of Ensi- 
lage" has received from the press. Editors and reviewers 
have, with scarce an exception, spoken only to commend, 
touching but lightly, if at all, upon the faults of style and 
diction, which are many, realizing that it was a book written 
by a working farmer in order that that which was hard and 
perplexing for him to accomplish, with none to advise or in- 
struct, might be made plain and easy to his fellow-farmers. 
Also to the many gentlemen, eminent in all the walks of life, 
for the kind and grateful letters in which they have shown their/, 
appreciation of my humble efforts to improve the conditicfh of 
the farmers of America, upon whose prosperity depends nof 
only the well-being of all other classes, but the very stability 
and permanence of our democratic institutions. 

I am grateful also for the success, I see by accounts in the 
papers, which has attended the efforts of so large a number of 
those, who, in the early stages of their experiment, solicited and 
received all the help my experience could render. The possibili- 
ties of ensilage can hardly be over-estimated. When I said in 
my first edition that 40 to 75 tons of green-corn fodder could be 
raised upon an acre of land, provided proper seed was used, suffi- 
cient manure was applied, and the right kind of cultivation be- 
stowed, many doubted, and some ridiculed the statement ; " but 
he laughs best who laughs last ; " and I am happy to be able to 
state that one of my neighbors has raised corn-fodder this year 
weighing at the rate of 72 tons to the acre, and that his whole 



%^p 



6 INTRODUCTION TO NEW EDITION. 

crop averaged over 50 tons to the acre. Some of the stalks 
were 19 feet 6 inches tall, and weighed 12 pounds each. I have 
not done as well ; but it should be borne in mind that I am 
experimenting upon an old, run-down farm, which, in 1877, 
could keep but 6 cows and one horse. I have now in my barn 
(Dec. I, 1880) sufficient hay to keep 6 horses, and forage in my 
silos ample for the sustenance of 40 head of horned cattle, 
nearly 200 sheep, and 60 swine. I may state also, that, during 
the past three years, I have bought no hay or manure. This 
much ensilage has benefited me ; and there is no reason why it 
should not benefit every farmer in like manner. That it may 
do so, is the earnest wish of my heart. 




.Steti. -^ 



\ 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 
Disadvantages of the System of Curing Forage by Desiccation . ii 

CHAPTER II. 
Description of the "Winning-Farm" Silos i6 

CHAPTER III. 
Filling the Silo .24 

CHAPTER IV. 
Opening of the Silo .28 

CHAPTER V. 
Cost of Keeping Stock upon Ensilage 34 

CHAPTER VI. 

Time when Forage Plants contain the Greatest Amount of Nu- 
tritive Value -g 

CHAPTER VII. 

Analysis and Composition of Corn when Cut in its Green State . 42 

CHAPTER VIII. 

Explanations why Ensilage must keep . . . . . . .1:4 

CHAPTER IX. 
Ensilage adapted to Warm as well as Cold Climates ... 59 

CHAPTER X. 
A New Discovery gg 

CHAPTER XL 
Food Ingredients. — Chemical Terms explained 69 

CHAPTER XII. 
Capacity of Silos -i 

CHAPTER XIII. 
Ensilage in the Great Dairy Districts ....... 74 

CHAPTER XIV. 
History of Maize, or Indian Corn 77 

7 



CONTENTS. 



THE IDLENOT PAPERS. 



CHAPTER XV. 

Cost of producing Milk One Cent a Quart, of Butter Ten Cents 
PER Pound, and of Pork Three Cents per Pound, Beef for 
Four Cents a Pound, and Mutton for Nothing, if Wool is 
Thirty Cents a Pound 8i 

CHAPTER XVI. 
Second Idlenot Paper 90 

CHAPTER XVII. 
Analysis of Ensilage from the " Winning-Farm " Silos . • • 97 

CHAPTER XVIII. 
How TO preserve Green Corn for the Table 100 

^ CHAPTER XIX. 

My Experience with Sugar-Beets. — Cost of Raising One-Fourth 

of an Acre, and the Yield loi 

CHAPTER XX. 
Summary . . , 104 

CHAPTER XXI. 

Effect of Alcoholic Fermentation in Ensilage upon " Gilt-Edged 

Butter" 106 

CHAPTER XXII. 
Model Dairy Stable adapted to the System of Ensilage . . .111 

CHAPTER XXIII. 
Conclusion of the Book of Ensilage 119 

CHAPTER XXIV. 
Latest Results in Preserving and Feeding Ensilage .... 122 

CHAPTER XXV. 

Fattening Steers, Feeding Swine, Method of Feeding, Warm Water 

for Stock, Etc 128 

CHAPTER XXVI. 
Illustrating the Nutritive Value of Ensilage 133 

CHAPTER XXVII. 
Chemistry of the Silo 135 



CONTENTS. r. 

** y 

CHAPTER XXVIII. 

How TO Raise the Maximum Crop of Fodder Corn .... 138 

CHAPTER XXIX. 

New Forage Plants and New Uses for Ensilage 139 



WHAT IS A SILO, AND WHAT IS ENSILAGE ? 



This is what the farmers want to know when the "New 
Dispensation^ or system of Ensilage," is presented to their 
attention. 

A Silo is a cistern or vat, air and water tight on the bottom 
and sides, with an open top, constructed of masonry or concrete. 
It may be square, rectangular, round or oval in shape, with per- 
pendicular sides, used to store in their green state forage-crops, 
such as corn, sorgho, rye, oats, millet, Hungarian grass, clover, 
and all the grasses. This forage is cut and taken directly from 
the field, run through a cutter which cuts it into pieces less than 
half an inch in length, and trampled down solidly in the Silo, 
and subjected to heavy and continuous pressure. 

The structure is the Silo, which may be above ground, or 
partly or entirely below the surface of the ground. The fodder 
preserved in Silos is Ensilage. * 



THE BOOK OF ENSILAGE. 

ACCOUNT OF THE "WINNING-FARM" SILOS. 



CHAPTER I. 

DISADVANTAGES OF THE SYSTEM OF CURING FORAGE BY 
DESICCATION. 

The great obstacle to raising stock at a profit has 
always been the high cost of all kinds of fodder for 
winter feeding. Especially has this been the case in the 
eastern part of the New England and Middle States. 
The lowest cost at which a cow can be kept in Eastern 
Massachusetts is twenty-two cents per day for feed, allow- 
ing nothing for care except the manure. This makes 
the yearly cost of keeping a cow to be at least $80.30. 
Many of my fellow farmers who raise milk inform me 
that it costs them twenty-six cents per day, which raises 
the cost to $94.90 per year. To meet the lowest sum 
$80.30, at the highest price at which milk has been sold 
in Eastern Massachusetts during the past few years, viz., 
twenty-five cents per can of 8| quarts, each cow would 
have to yield 32 1|- cans, or 2,730 quarts, — about 5,500 
pounds. 

" It goes without saying," that there is not one herd 
of cows in fifty which averages 5,000 pounds of milk per 



12 THE BOOK OF ENSILAGE. 

head yearly. While this is so, that ninety-eight per cent 
of the cows yield less value in milk than it costs to feed 
them, still as a choice of evils farmers are obliged to 
keep them rather than sell the provender they consume, 
though it would bring more money than the milk. By 
gratuitously incorporating a large amount of labor into 
the milk, they are enabled to keep up the fertility of 
their farms, while on the other hand were they to sell 
their forage they would soon impoverish their land. 

Paradoxical as it may seem, the only way the majority 
of farmers near our large cities can make (?) any money 
is, and has been, to sell milk at less than it cost to pro- 
duce it ! This is a very unsatisfactory condition of 
affairs. 

For several years I have been anxiously looking for 
science to show us — agricultural laymen — the way 
out of the wilderness into the promised land, where 
crops could be grown at a profit without the farmer's 
labor being thrown in as straw — quantum sufficit — is 
when figuring up the cost of wintering stock in the 
West. ■ 

Analyses of the soil at one time promised to bring 
about a great change in agriculture, by showing us just 
what the soil lacked to produce bountiful crops of what- 
ever we wish to raise. This proved an ignis fatuus, — 
for nearly all soils were found to contain when chemically 
analyzed every thing required to produce scores of 
bountiful crops of almost every thing. 

The trouble was, that while the elements of fertility 
were there chemically, they were not there in such a 
form as the growing plant could avail itself of. 

The next great panacea was to analyze the crop which 
it was proposed to raisg, and apply to the soil the various 
elements found in the crop, principally nitrogen, phos- 



DISADVANTAGES OF CURING BY DESICCATION 1 3 

phoric acid, and potash. The trouble with this is, that 
no one can tell except by a series of careful experiments 
whether one, two, or all three of these elements must be 
applied to the land in order to raise a satisfactory crop. 
Having ascertained that a certain crop can be raised 
upon a certain piece of land by applying one, two, or all 
three of the above-named elements of fertility ; another 
set of equally careful experiments must be tried when- 
ever a different crop is attempted upon the same land, 
or the same crop upon another piece of land. 

This necessitates the farmers' trying all these experi- 
ments upon their own land ; which is out of the question, 
for while they might, they certainly will not do it. 

Therefore commercial fertilizers will perforce have to 
be applied in the future as in the past, mostly at random. 

I do not wish to be understood as saying that com- 
mercial fertilizers are not valuable and useful in their 
place ; which place is 7iot to take the place of barn-cellar 
manure, but as an economical adjunct to it in the hill 
and drill. 

The chief objection to depending in the main upon 
them is, that in the majority of cases the fertilizer costs 
more than the crop will bring. 

No great agricultural prosperit}' can come through the 
increased use of commercial fertilizers, except as aids to 
barnyard manure. 

Experiments in England have demonstrated that the 
crop does not increase in proportion to the amount of 
fertilizers applied, even when the most consummate skill 
directs the operations. 

While agriculture has not been benefited to the extent 
hoped for by the processes mentioned above, there was 
one man who w^as patiently experimenting, and endeavor- 
ing to solve the problem in an entirely different way. 



14 THE BOOK OF ENSILAGE. 

It has long been apparent to every observer, that 
there is an immense loss sustained in the manner in 
which all forage-crops have been cured from time im- 
memorial, viz., by desiccation or drying. While it is 
agreed by all that a larger proportion of all vegetable 
growth comes from the atmosphere than from the soil, 
it does not appear to have struck scientific agriculturists 
that during the process of curing by drying, a very 
large proportion of the most valuable elements of nutri- 
tion are returned to the atmosphere from whence they 
came. 

" The cow which gives us in summer while feeding on 
green grass such excellent milk, and butter of such 
agreeable color and flavor, furnishes us in the winter, — 
— when she eats the same grass converted into hay, — 
an inferior quality of milk, and pale, insipid butter. 
What modifications has this grass undergone in changing 
into hay? These modifications are numerous. It is 
sufftcient to cross a meadow when the new-mown grass 
is undergoing desiccation, to recognize that it is losing 
an enormous quantity of its substance that exhales in 
the air in agreeable odors, but which, if retained in the 
plant, would serve at least as condiments favoring diges-' 
tion and assimilation. All stock-raisers know how rap- 
idly young stock increases in weight in summer upon 
green pastures, and also that the same amount of grass 
converted into hay and judiciously fed in winter does 
not always prevent them from shrinking, and seldom 
gives any increase. 

"The loss by desiccation in fine weather under the 
best conditions, added to that caused by the physical 
modifications which render mastication and digestion of 
the hay more difficult than of the grass, and conse- 
quently assimilation less complete, merits the most seri- 



DISADVANTAGES OF CURING BY DESICCATION. 15 

ous attention on the part of those who are interested in 
agricultural affairs. 

" Rains, and even dews, add immensely to the dete- 
rioration inseparable to a process of curing by dessica- 
tion. What agriculturist has not seen a hundred times 
his hay, notwithstanding the utmost care, injured by rain, 
deprived of its richest and most assimilative elements ? 
If these things occur to the common fodder-crops, — 
timothy, orchard-grass, clover, &c., — what would (or 
rather, what does) happen when the saving of fodder- 
crops of high growth and great yield, such as maize and 
sorgho, or even Hungarian grass or millet, is attempted 
by desiccation? never in our temperate climate could 
we obtain for these a sufficient desiccation by the sun " 
when raised on a large scale. I have seen a neighboring 
farmer working nearly three weeks to cure about an acre 
of millet, and then it was very imperfectly preserved. 

M. Aguste Goffart, whom not only all agriculturists, 
but the whole world ought to honor as it has no other 
man, commenced his experiments in preserving fodder 
by other means than drying, nearly or quite thirty years 
ago. It is reasonable to suppose that he met with fail- 
ure after failure ; but not discouraged he persevered ; and 
during the last four years has so improved upon his 
earlier methods, that the preservation of any and all 
green crops, with all their valuable attributes unimpaired, 
is no longer an experiment. 

I will not take space to describe M. Goffart's Silos and 
methods ; but would recommend all those who wish to 
investigate the French system to send to J. B. Brown, 
Esq., No. 55 Beekman Street, New York (the trans- 
lator of M. Goffart's treatise) for a copy of " Ensilage 
of Maize," and study it. 



CHAPTER II. 

DESCRIPTION OF THE " WINNING-FARM " SILOS. 

I WAITED long in hopes that one of our agricultural 
colleges or experimental stations would take the initia- 
tive. 

The following letters convinced me that there was no 
use in waiting for more half-way experiments to be tried, 
where " half of the fodder went to waste," and the bal- 
ance was so imperfectly preserved that it was " very diffi- 
cult to remove the peculiar and very disagreeable smell 
from the hands after touching it : " — 

New York, July 26, 1879. 
John M-^ Bailey, Esq. 

Dear Sir, — . . . Can you not effect a combination, and build a Silo 
of masonry, and make a business of it this fall ? I have not yet heard of 
any one who is going to do it thoroughly. ... I speak of combination, 
as all seem to be afraid to do it right on account of the expense. I don't 
think any thing but masonry is sure, and that is. ... I have urged all 
the enterprising and competent farmers I am acquainted with to be the 
first to do it on Goffart's plan, but I have not succeeded as far as I now 
know. 

Yours truly, 

J. B. Brown. 

If any thing was necessary to convince me that I must 
depend upon myself, this letter was enough. Mr. Brown 
knew of Mr. Francis Morris's experiments and their un- 
satisfactory results; hence his anxiety that I should test 



DESCRIPTION OF THE '' WINNING-FAR W SILOS. 



17 



the system In a thorough manner : therefore I resolved 
to brave the danger of being " laughed at ; " and as no 
one could be induced to try the great experiment, and 
that the public should not lose the benefit of a system 
of such vast importance to the welfare of our nation, 
and fearing also that the grand discovery of M. Goffart's 
might fall into disrepute in consequence of not being 
tried in a thorough and scientific manner, I decided to 
make the experiment. 

For several years I have been trying to find the way 
to raise profitable crops, or to turn them to profitable 
account when raised. I eagerly scanned every item 
which appeared in the public press bearing upon the 
process of preserving forage-crops in their green state. 
All the plans seemed to give but imperfect results ; 
nevertheless, there seemed to be value in the idea. 

It was therefore with pleasure I saw a notice of Mr. 
Brown's translation of M. Goffart's work upon " Ensi- 
lage." I sent for it. Upon a careful perusal of the 
work, and some little discussion in the columns of " The 
Country Gentleman " with Mr. Brown upon some parts 
of it, I became satisfied that the principle was right, that 
M. Goffart's method — with such modifications as cli- 
matic differences demand — faithfully carried out, would 
bring success. 

Having resolved to try the experiment thoroughly, 
on the seventeenth day of July, 1879, I broke ground, 
selecting a side hill, and locating the Silos so that the 
corner joined the north-east corner of my barn : I ex- 
cavated on the west side and south end seven feet deep, 
and put in a solid stone wall on the west side, 44 feet 
long and 12 feet high. This was built of very heavy 
stone and in the most substantial manner. 

I afterwards graded up on this side to the top of the 



1 8 THE BOOK OF ENSILAGE. 

wall, making a level spot to set an engine and Ensilage 
cutter upon ; also to drive upon to deposit the corn fod- 
der as it came from the fields, on dump-carts. It took 
13 days' work of a stone-mason, 43 f days' work of 
laborers, and 282- days' work for one horse, to excavate 
and build the stone wall and foundations for the Silos. 

On the tenth day of August I commenced building 
the Silo walls. These are 15 inches thick, built of con- 
crete in the following manner. 

First, 3X4 joists are set up at each of the angles, 
and also at intervals of about eight feet on each side 
of the walls. These scantling are placed 18 inches 
apart, spruce plank 12 inches wide and i^ inches thick 
are set up on the inside of the scantling, which leaves 
15 inches between the planks as the thickness of the 
walls. 

We are now ready to commence building the Silo 
walls. The concrete is made by mixing one barrel of 




a a.- — 3 X 4 inch scantling, to hold \\ inch plank while building wall. 
b b. — Doors. 



DESCRIPTION OF THE ''WINNING-FARM" SILOS. 



19 



Newark, Rosendale, or Akron cement, with three bar- 
rels of plastering sand and four barrels of clean gravel. 
This is thoroughly mixed together while dry. It is then 
wet and thoroughly mixed again, making a very thin 
mortar. 

About three inches in depth of this mixture is put in 
between the planks ; then stone of all sizes and shapes 
are packed and bedded in this layer of concrete, after 
which another layer of concrete is poured in on top of 
this layer of stones, and the operation is repeated until 
the space between the planks all round each Silo is 
filled ; then the planks are raised about ten inches, and 
the space filled with concrete and stones as before until 
the walls are at the desired height. The best way is to 
have a sufficient number of hands to just raise the wall 
the width of the plank each day. Time was pressing 
with me, however ; and I sometimes raised the plank two 
and three times in one day, the concrete " settino- " so 
that I was able to do so safely. But I do not recommend 
this haste, as the walls will not be as smooth as they 
would be if the cement had all night to " set" in before 
the planks were raised. A 4 X 1 2 inch sill was bedded 
on the wall in the last layer of concrete. This sill was 
made of 2x12 inch spruce plank nailed together. 
Upon these sills a building was placed with posts five 
feet high, the beams on the top of these posts being 
thoroughly braced to the posts, thus firmly tying the 
whole structure too-ether. 

In sections of the country where clean sand, gravel, 
or stone is not easily obtained, Silo walls may be con- 
structed of brick in the usual manner of brick buildino-s. 

To put up the concrete walls and bed the sills,, to- 
gether with grading the upper side, where the cutting 
of the fodder is done, took of the foreman 28^ days, 



20 THE BOOK OF ENSILAGE. 

work of laborers 149 days, and 34 days' work of ox\^ 
horse. Putting up the frame to hold the plank took two 
carpenters two days. It required 124 barrels of cement, 
costing $1.25 per barrel in Lowell. The teaming of the 
cement and lumber is included in the above account of 
time of horses and laborers. The cost of the whole 
structure will of course vary in different locations, as the 
cost of labor and materials varies. 

My Silos (capacity about 800,000 pounds) cost me 
about $500. In other words, Silos will cost about one 
dollar and a quarter for each ton's capacity. Large ones 
will cost less, small ones more. The following diagram 
illustrates my Silos. 

Silos may be built of stone pointed with cement mor- 
tar and plastered on the inside, or of brick, or of con- 
crete as mine are. Whichever material is the cheapest 
and most convenient in any locality is the best to use 
there. Brick will cost more than the concrete. Con- 
crete wall costs about ten cents per cubic foot. 

As a general rule, Silos should be built rectangular in 
form, the width being about one-third the length, and 
the height about two-fifths of the length, and if possible 
should be sunk about one-half below the surface of the 
ground. 

If there is a side hill near the stables, so that the 
surface of the earth will come nearly to the top of the 
walls at one end of the Silos, it will be found very con- 
venient in filling the Silos, in weighting the Ensilage, 
and in removing the weights as it is fed out. 

These walls must be built sufficiently strong to with- 
stand when empty the pressure of the earth inward, as 
well as the pressure outward, caused by the settling of 
the Ensilage under the superimposed weights placed 
upon it. 



DESCRIPTION OF THE ''WINNING-FARM'' SILOS. 21 



I I 

en H 



C/3 T) 



J? .5 



O < 



1 N^ 



C n 

•-t O 




22 



THE BOOK OF ENSILAGE. 



Where it is not convenient to get stone for weights, 
heavy logs of wood may be used, sawed in pieces about 
three feet in length, and placed on end all over the 
planks which cover the Ensilage ; three feet of wood 
being about equal in weight to one foot of stone. Or 
broken bricks may be obtained at the brickyards at a 
nominal price. Where neither of the above is availa- 
ble, bags or boxes of earth may be used as weights. 
Where boxes of earth are used, they should be made of 
such a size as to fit close together side by side. 

M. Goffart recommends that the corners be rounded. 
I thought that cutting them off, as shown in the diagram, 
would answer as well and be much less expensive, I 
find, upon opening the Silo, that the Ensilage is pre- 




Earth-box for weights, showing convenient handles which will not interfere with piling the 

boxes when removed. 



DESCRIPTION OF THE " WINNING-FARM'' SILOS. 23 

served as well and settled as evenly In these corners as 
elsewhere ; also that the preservation is just as perfect 
close to the walls as in the centre, showing that a con- 
crete wall is more impervious to air than a brick one. 



CHAPTER III. 



FILLING THE. SILO. 



I COMMENCED Cutting my green-corn fodder on Sept. 
2 2, and finished putting on the stone for weight at three 
o'clock P.M., Sept. 30, putting in about two feet in depth 
daily. This is fast enough ; for the shrinkage will then 
be much less when the weights are put on than it would 
be were the Silo filled faster. 

The seven acres of corn-fodder filled one Silo to with- 
in about 5^ feet from the top. Upon the top of the 
Ensilage I put about one foot of rye straw uncut. Then 
I commenced at one end, and floored it over by laying 
i:^ inch spruce plank crosswise the entire length. Upon 
this floor I put about 25 tons of bowlders. I am not 
sure that the straw is necessary : further experiments will 
decide. I shall use less next season. 

The Ensilage settled about i^ feet. There has been 
no odor or steam arising from it. The cost of cutting 
the corn up, hauling it to the cutter, cutting it jq of an 
inch long, and packing it in the Silo, was not far from 75 
cents per ton. 

It was new work. The cutter was not adapted to the 
business, clogging badly and necessitating slow feeding. 
All this combined to make it cost more than it will when 
we become used to the work of handling large amounts 
of green-corn fodder. 
24 



FILLING THE SLLO. 



-0 



The corn-fodder can be cut in the field with corn- 
knives cheaper than by the mowing-machine. The men 
as they cut it lay it in bunches ; for it is much easier for 
the drivers to load it when laid in bunches, than to 
gather it up after the mowing-machine. The extra cost 
in cutting is more than made up by the expedition in 
loading and hauling. 

I think the cost of Ensilaging 300 to 400 tons, when 
we have the right kind of a cutter (Baldwin's Ameri- 
can fodder-cutter all sizes, adapted to large as well as 
small farmers, substantially built and at reasonable prices, 
is the best one I have seen : they are manufactured 
for, and are for sale by, Joseph Breck & Sons, the old 
and reliable seedsmen and dealers in all kinds of agri- 
cultural implements, Boston, Mass.: I have bought seeds 
and tools of them for many years, and have always found 
them reliable and trustworthy), will not exceed 40 cents 
per ton. This is less than it would cost to go to the 
field, and cut and haul it into the barn ; and, after it is in 
the barn, the labor of feeding the whole fodder is much 
more than to fill a basket in the Silo and give it to each 
animal. Therefore it is cheaper to cut up the whole 
crop at one time, put it in the Silos, and feed it from 
them to the stock even in summer, than to go to the field 
for it as it is wanted. 

Now, when it is considered that the corn-plant is at its 
best but a few days ; that it can all be put into Silos 
when in the best condition ; and that, notwithstanding 
great care in successive plantings, if used directly from 
the fields, much has to be fed either in an immature 
state, or when too hard for the cattle to masticate the 
stalks, — it wall be seen that the saving, however consid- 
erable in planting as well as harvesting the whole crop 
at one time, is but a trifle compared to the gain in nutri- 



26 THE BOOK OF ENSILAGE. 

tivp value by being all cut at the right stage of growth, 
and preserved by the system of Ensilage with all its 
elements uninjured. 

Ensilage is therefore the most economical method of 
soiling. The preserved succulent forage is improved by 
lying in the Silos, and at the same time the easiest and 
cheapest road by which green crops can reach the man- 
ger is through the Silo. It practically annihilates winter, 
and places the stock-raisers and dairymen in better cir- 
cumstances than they would be if they had throughout 
the year the waving fields of oats or rye and the luxu- 
riant corn in their best stage for soiling, from which to 
cut the daily food of their animals. The advantage of 
being able to plant or sow the whole crop at one time, 
and to cut and store it all at once, when in its most 
nutritive state, can hardly be over-estimated. 

My corn was planted from the 15 th to the 25 th of 
June. On one acre was Stowel's evergreen sweet corn ; 
the other six acres, Southern white corn. 

There were at least twice as many tons of the latter to 
the acre as of the former. I shall plant no more sweet 
corn for Ensilage. The corn was all sown in drills about 
three feet apart, one bushel of seed-corn to the acre ; 
was manured with about six cords of stable manure 
spread broadcast after ploughing, and harrowed twice 
with a Thomas smoothing harrow. It was planted with 
an "Albany corn-planter ;" which, in addition to opening 
the drill, dropping the corn, and covering it, also de- 
posited about two hundred pounds to the acre of a mix- 
ture composed of equal parts of superphosphate, cotton- 
seed, meal, and gypsum. A portion did not come up 
well, and had to be replanted. The dry weather and 
cool nights of the summer of 1879 prevented a rapid 
growth in certain portions. In fact, it was not a good 



FILLING THE SILO. . 27 

corn year, so that the crop was somewhat uneven at 
harvestine. The leaves at the bottom of the stalks had 
largely become dry and dead, and a sharp frost when the 
cutting was about half finished injured somewhat the 
leaves on that portion still standing in the field. Some 
of the stalks had ears large enough for roasting ; and the 
whole of it, I think, was rather too mature. 

There was estimated to be in the Silo when opened 
125 tons. The crop was very uneven, some parts having 
at least 40 tons to the acre. Upon other parts, where 
the drought affected that which was replanted, the yield 
was not over 10 tons per acre. I do not think it will 
be at all difficult to raise 40 to 75 tons per acre upon an 
average on good corn-land. It should be planted from 
the I St to the loth of June. It will then be in full 
blossom, and in the best condition to cut, by the last of 
August and before any frost can injure it. 

As stated above, the cutting was finished on the 30th 
of September. It was decided to open it on the third 
day of December ; and, as the condition of the Ensilaged 
maize was a question of the utmost importance, it was, 
upon the suggestion of Mr. Brown, decided to have the 
"opening of the Winning- Farm Silos" a public matter 
" «^ ^'/z^ American Initiative." 

Accordingly invitations were sent to quite a number 
of gentlemen, well known for their interest in agricul- 
ture, as well as for the benefit they have conferred upon 
the whole country in the untiring efforts they have made 
to improve not only our system of cultivation, but our 
domestic breeds of cattle and all the fruits of the earth 
which minister to the wants and add to the pleasures 
of mankind. 



CHAPTER IV. 

OPENING OF THE SILO. 

Unfortunately the meetings of the State Board of 
Agricuhure and the Massachusetts State Dairy Fair, 
were held on the same day as the opening, which pre- 
vented the attendance of many gentlemen, who, however, 
sent letters of regret expressing great interest in the 
result. 

The following letter was received from the United 
States Commissioner of Agriculture : — 

Department of Agriculture, Washington, Nov. 23, 1879. 

J. B. Brown, 50 Beekman Street, New York. 

Dear Sir, — I am much gratified to receive and thank you for the 
invitation to attend the opening of the first American Silo at the farm 
of Mr. John M. Bailey at Billerica, Mass. 

As Congress will be in session at the time mentioned, it will not be 
possible for me to attend, a fact which I regret very much. Will you 
have the kindness to convey to Mr. Bailey my sincere regrets, and ask 
him to give me a detailed statement of the experiment from beginning 
to end, for publication in my next annual report ? 

I look upon the system of Ensilage as one which has wrought won- 
derful changes in certain French provinces, and from which we may hope 
for greater success in this country. 

It will prove, I have little doubt, a very decided advance in our agri- 
cultural methods. 

Very respectfully yours, 

Wm. G. Le Due, Commissioner. 
28 



OPENING OF THE SILO. 29 

The following letter from Hon. Marshall P. Wilder 
shows us that neither his advanced age, nor the painful 
accident from which we all rejoice to know he is rapidly 
recovering, has diminished his interest in all that per- 
tains to an improved agriculture : — 

Boston, Dec. 2, 1879. 
My dear Sir, — I would be glad to be at the " Winning reception " 
to-morrow, but I am not sufficiently recovered to take the journey. With 
thanks for your kind invitation, 

I am yours as ever, 
Mr. Bailey. Marshall P. Wilder. 

Ramsey's, Bergen County, NJ., Nov. 27, 1879. 
Mr. J. B. Brown. 

My dear Sir, — In reply to your letter of the 19th inst., I regret to 
say that I shall leave in a few days for California, and am therefore un- 
able to accept the invitation of Mr. Bailey to be present at the opening 
of his Silo of 120 tons of "Ensilage," on the 3d of December, on his 
farm at Billerica, Mass. 

I have no doubt that the preservation of corn-stalks green for winter 
fodder will soon become the great resource of our farmers, giving, as it 
will, increased remuneration to agricultural industry. 

Mr. Bailey is to be congratulated upon giving the first public exhi- 
bition of Ensilage, which promises such important changes. 

I am confident, from the investigation I have given the subject, that 
it will be a convincing showing of its great national value to all present. 
I have felt for the last three years that I could render no greater benefit 
to my neighbors, than to direct their attention to this system of hus- 
bandry. 

I am, with great respect, your obedient servant, 

Rodman M. Price. 



MoRETON Farm, Rochester, N.Y., Dec. 2, 1879. 
John M. Bailey. 

Dear Sir, — I received your kind invitation to be with you to-morrow. 
Nothing would please me better ; but I am so busy with my seeds, that 
it will be impossible to spare the time. 
I think you have struck the right idea. 

Respectfully yours, 

Jos. Harris. 



30 THE BOOK OF ENSILAGE. 

Letters were also received from the agricultural edit- 
ors of the " New York Tribune," " New York World," 
" Land and Home," and other journals, asking for infor- 
mation as to the experiment ; and also from Professors 
Stockbridge, Goessmann, and Maynard, Richard Good- 
man, Esq., H. H. Commins, Esq., William H. Bowker, 
Esq., T. G. Huntington, O. A. Hillman, S. C. Stone, and 
many others interested in agricultural developments. 

Mr. J. B. Brown, President of the " New York Plough 
Company," and translator of M. Goffart's book, was pres- 
ent ; and there were quite a large number of gentlemen 
from New York and the New England States. 

After briefly looking at the Berkshire swine, Oxford- 
shire-down and Cotswold sheep, and Jersey and short- 
horn cattle, the company repaired to the Silos ; and to 
say that there was a good deal of anxiety felt while the 
stones and spruce plank were being removed for the 
space of about three feet at one end of the Silo, would 
be stating no untruth. 

The top and edge of the Ensilage next the door for 
two or three inches, was somewhat musty, and in places 
almost rotten. But directly below this the fodder came 
out cool, soft, moist, and wholesome looking, with a 
strong alcoholic odor, and quite acid. It was evident 
that fermentation had been going on until acetic acid had 
been formed. 

The following from the report of the editor of "The 
Lowell Journal," who was present, will describe the im- 
pression received by those present at the "opening: " — 

" There was, however, no unpleasant taste, except the acidity, and no 
unpleasant smell. 

" There were twenty or thirty head of cattle on the farm, as well as 
sheep, swine, and horses. They were all given some of the Ensilage. 

"The hogs ate it greedily. The sheep also seemed very fond of it. 



OPENING OF THE SILO. 31 

The neat stock were not so eager for it at first; but mos of them 
seemed after a while to acquire a taste for it, and soon manifested a 
desire for more. 

" There were spots where the fodder was not so sour ; but it was evi- 
dent that it did not come out the sweet, fresh, and palatable fodder 
which has been secured in the French Silos. 

" The reasons which may be ascribed for this are various. Mr. Brown 
thought it was due to the maturity of the fodder when cut. 

" It may be that being just at the upper corner, near the door, the 
preservation from oxygen was less perfect than will prove to have been 
the case farther down in the mass. 

" The numerous dry and dead leaves caused by the drought and frost 
may possibly have something to do with it. We shall know more about 
this as the Silo is emptied. 

" One thing is certain thus far : the fodder is so well preserved that 
the cattle will eat it, and there is no question but that they will thrive 
on it. 

" Since writing the above we have received a note from Mr. Bailey, 
dated Dec. 5, in which he says, — 

" ' Yesterday morning we fed what Ensilage was taken from the Silo 
while you were here. All of the animals but four ate it all, licking out 
their mangers clean. The four finally ate theirs up before noon. This 
morning we fed about a bushel to each grown animal, and a proportionate 
feed to younger ones. I am pleased to state that they have all eaten it 
up clean. The acidity appears to be much less than when first opened, 
and there is emitted — as there should be — a strong alcoholic odor. I 
think that under the circumstances we can claim it as a perfect suc- 
cess.' " 

There can be no doubt that the cause of this acidity, 
and the alcohoHc odor in the Ensilage, is on account of 
the stalks being too mature before cutting. 

Professor Goessmann writes that " acetic acid had 
formed in the stalks before they were cut." 

If cut at the period of blossoming, but very little 
acetic fermentation will take place in the Silo, and no 
alcoholic fermentation until after it has been exposed in 
a large pile to the action of the atmosphere. 

I think there is always more or less acidity present. 



32 THE BOOK OF ENSILAGE. 

From a report to the Central Agricultural Society of 
France by a " committee of the sections on live stock, 
physico-chemical and high cultivation," upon the subject 
of the "Ensilage of green-cut corn-fodder seance, April 
7, 1875," I make the following extract: — 

" The fodder has an alcoholic odor quite marked and slightly acid. It 
is eaten with avidity by the cows, and constituted their sole food since 
the commencement of winter. We were struck by the hearty appear- 
ance of the 28 or 30 cows. Their eyes were bright, their skins soft, and 
they are in good condition. (Goffart's ' Ensilage of Maize.')" 

On the 9th of December the following report was 
made to "The Country Gentleman : ',' — 

ENSILAGE IN MASSACHUSETTS. 

Editors Country Gentleman : — 

The " Winning Farm Silos " are a perfect success. The preserved 
corn-fodder which was cut about y% of an inch long, and placed in the 
Silo about the last of September, and subjected to heavy and continuous 
pressure, is being fed to the stock. They all eat it with avidity. Its 
preservation is perfect. It has an alcoholic odor, and is somewhat 
acid. My stock eat it all, hck out their mangers, and look wistfully for 
more. When the Silo was first opened, Dec. 3, there appeared to be a 
strong acidity, so much so that some of the gentlemen present were some- 
what disappointed ; but as we get farther into the mass of Ensilage the 
acidity is much less, while the alcoholic odor upon exposure to the air 
several hours is much stronger. 

I tried a little experiment with it this afternoon. I had a pen of seven 
Oxfordshire-downs, and another pen of five maple-shade Cotswolds. 
They had just been fed with some clean bright hay. In another feed- 
trough I put some Ensilage. Five of the seven Oxfordshire-downs left 
the hay, and ate the Ensilage, and four of the five Cotswolds left their 
hay and did likewise. 

I feed, in place of the ration of hay, 25 to 30 pounds of Ensilage to 
each cow in the morning, and the same at night, which has lain upon 
the barn-floor all night, during which time fermentation is quite active so 
that it is warm in the morning. 

The Ensilage in the Silo which is compacted, although exposed to 



OPENING OF THE SILO. -^3 

the air seems to undergo no change. It is pressed so hard that the air 
cannot enter, and therefore does not affect it at all. I am dehghted with 
the success of the enterprise. 

I believe it is possible to keep four cows a year upon corn fodder 
Ensilage raised upon one acre of land. Verily we are under the greatest 
obligation to M. Goffart, and to J. B. Brown ; to the former for demon- 
strating to our satisfaction that corn-fodder can be successfully preserved 
in this manner, and to the latter for translating M. Goffart's work into 
Enghsh so that we may profit by his great success. If he is truly blest 
who " causes two blades of grass to grow where only one grew before," 
how much more to be honored is this man who has taught us how to 
keep four cows upon an acre of land where one cow would find but 
scanty subsistence before ! A most fortunate agricultural revolution is 
indeed impending, and one which I trust many of our progressive farm- 
ers will engage in during the coming season. 

.. w T^ „ , John M. Bailey. 

"Winning Farm," Billerica, Mass. 



CHAPTER V. 

COST OF KEEPING STOCK UPON ENSILAGE. 

The following statement from a gentleman whose 
estate joins " Winning Farm " will be read with interest. 

John M. Balley, Esq., 

Winning Farm, Billerica, Mass. 

Dear Sir, — In accordance with my suggestions made on the occa- 
sion of the opening of your Silo, Dec. 3, I have used your Ensilage in 
manner as follows. My small herd of six cows calved early in the 
spring, viz., in the months of March and April. They are of the ordinary 
New England stock, with no pretensions to any pedigree. I sell no milk ; 
and my cows, such as they are, were selected more for their butter-mak- 
ing qualities than for any extra milking properties. These cows had 
served through the season for butter-making, and with the commence- 
ment of cold weather and the stoppage of " fall feed " had begun to 
shrink in milk. 

Previous to the use of your Ensilage, the six cows had been fed two 
bushels of flat turnips, with four quarts of bran to each cow daily, and 
what dry corn-fodder they would eat. The amount of milk given by 
them daily was 30 quarts, from which 18 pounds of butter were made 
per week. 

I commenced using your Ensilage on Wednesday, Dec. 10, and left 
off using it on the 17th, feeding 18 barrels, or 54 bushels, during the 
week. All but one cow took to the fodder at first kindly, and their 
appetite for it increased from day to day. There was an increase of 
milk from 30 quarts to 35 quarts daily. The cream was thicker, of 
richer color, and of better quality, than from their previous feeding. 
One sack of bran of the value of 90 cents was all that the cows ate dur- 
34 



COST OF KEEPIS'G STOCK UPON ENSILAGE. 35 

ing the week in addition to your Ensilage, except a small amount of 
bog or meadow hay of nominal value. 

The account for this week would therefore be for the six cows : — 

54 bushels Ensilage (1,620 lbs.), @ $.001 .... $1.62 
I bag wheat shorts go 

The cows should be credited with 22 pounds of butter at 35 cents 
a pound, and say 210 quarts of skim-milk at one cent per quart, which 
I consider its value as feed for the pigs. 

22 pounds butter, @ $.35 $7.70 

210 quarts skim-milk .01 2.10 

fe.So 
Cost of keeping . 2.52 

Profit $7.28 

The flavor of the butter was excellent, and its color a good yellow 
equal to that which sweet pasture gives. 

In the above brief statement I have confined myself strictly to facts, 
and will make no comments, except to say that I am convinced that 
your method of preserving green fodder for use in winter time is a suc- 
cess, and will eventually be adopted in this part of the country. 

Henry B. Judkins. 

Since receiving the above, Mr. Judkins informs me 
that his cows shrank so that they gave but 20 quarts 
daily, three days after resuming dry feed. 

This is about what they would have shrunk to by this 
time, had the natural shrinkage not been arrested and an 
increase caused by the one week's feed of Ensilage. 

I have a Jersey heifer 20 months old which has 
doubled her yield of milk since I be^an to feed Ensilaee. 
I have one cow 13 years old which came in Dec. i, three 
weeks ago. She is now giving 16 quarts daily upon 60 
pounds of Ensilage and four quarts of shorts. I am 
feeding 35 head of cattle and 100 head of sheep upon 45 
bushels (about 1,350 pounds) of Ensilage, and 80 cents' 



36 THE BOOK OF ENSILAGE. 

worth of shorts, and less than 50 pounds of hay daily. 
I cannot make the cost of corn Ensilage to be more than 
one mill per pound, or $2 per ton. 

It will, therefore, be seen that the expense of keeping 
35 horned animals and 100 sheep at "Winning Farm" 
is as follows : — 

1,350 pounds of Ensilage (a) $.001 . . . ^1.35 
90 pounds of shorts ..... .80 

50 pounds of hay (o) ^15 per ton . . . .37I- 

Total cost per day . . . . . . $2.52-1 

The cost of keeping the above stock upon hay and 
grain would be as follows : — 

20 pounds of hay to each animal (ten yearlings count- 
ed as five cows) , making 30 head, would require daily as 
follows : — 

600 pounds of hay for cattle, at $15 per ton. . . . $\ 50 

200 pounds of hay for 100 sheep . . . . . . i 50 

120 pounds of shorts for cattle, at $18 per ton . . . i 08 

40 pounds of shorts for sheep . . . . . . 36 

Total cost of keeping 30 cattle and 100 sheep per day on hay 

and grain . . . . . . . . . $7 44 

Cost of keeping the above on Ensilage as above . . . 2 5 2-|- 

Daily balance in favor of Ensilage . . . . .$491-^ 

From my experience in feeding so far, I consider Ensi- 
lage to be worth one-half as much as the best timothy 
hay. I would not, however, exchange Ensilage for hay 
and give two tons for one. I believe that 40 to 75 tons 
of corn-fodder can easily be raised upon an acre, which 
if properly Ensilaged will be equal to from 20 to 3 7^1 tons 
of hay. To receive the fullest benefit, however, I think 
there should be some nitrogenous food, such as oats, 
shorts, pea or bean meal, oil meal or animal meal, fed 
with the Ensilaofe. 



COST OF KEEPING STOCK UPON ENSILAGE. ^J 

Judging from the appearance and the droppings of 
my animals, I believe they are fed as high as young and 
breeding: stock should be fed. 

There is another advantage : after the corn is cut and 
put into the Silo, — the last of August or first of Septem- 
ber, — the land can then be ploughed, and sown with 
winter rye. The summer, fall, and winter accumulations 
of manure can be hauled out, and spread broadcast upon 
the rye at any time after it is sown, during the fall and 
winter months or early spring. The rye will be in blos- 
som, and ready to cut, between the loth and 25th of 
May, and should be cut yV of a-n inch long, and put into 
the Silo in the same manner as the corn fodder. 

Land highly manured ought to give ten tons of green 
rye for Ensilage per acre. The manure having been 
applied to the land during the time it was occupied by 
the rye, nothing remains but to plough in the rye stubble, 
and drill in the corn. Thus 40 to 75 tons of Ensilage 
can be easily raised from one acre of good corn-land, 

I roll my fodder-corn land as soon as planted, harrow 
with a Thomas smoothing-harrow just as it is prick- 
ing through the ground, and once every week or ten 
days until it is about a foot high. Then, if there appear 
any weeds, I go through it once with a horse-hoe, I 
like the Centennial horse-hoe, manufactured by Tim- 
othy B. Hussey, North Berwick, Me,, best of any I have 
tried. 

In conclusion, let me urge every farmer, who can, to 
build a Silo, They will have to build sheds to accommo- 
date the stock they will be able to keep. Silos and 
cheap cattle-sheds are much cheaper than expensive hay- 
barns. 

No manure-cellars are needed. Cement the floors of 
the cattle-sheds (it costs less than a plank floor) , so as 



38 THE BOOK OF ENSILAGE. 

to save all the manure, both solid and liquid ; bed them 
with leaves, meadow hay, or' any kind of hay, for that 
matter. 

Apply the manure as it is made, broadcast upon the 
rye fields. The land will continually grow richer, the 
crops of rye and corn fodder heavier. The stock upon 
the farm will increase in number and value until agricul- 
ture will become the most profitable as w^ell as the 
noblest avocation which shall engage the attention of 
intelligent and refined manhood. 



The foregoing was — it will be seen — written at 
intervals, from the time of opening the Silo until about 
the third day of January, when I went to Virginia to visit 
my stock farm in Sussex County. A month had elapsed 
since I first began to feed the Ensilage, and I was absent 
from " Winning Farm " about a month. 

Although letters from my manager had informed me 
from time to time that " the Ensilage works better every 
day," still I was unprepared to see such an improve- 
ment in the general appearance of the stock. They 
looked as if they had been at pasture with feed up to 
their eyes, sleek and smooth. Hundreds of people have 
visited " Winning Farm " during the winter to see the 
Silos, and examine the stock fed upon Ensilage. All 
expressed the same surprise and delight at their appear- 
ance. It is all eaten, not a pound is wasted : sheep, 
hogs, cattle and horses, all like it. Sheep seem to be as 
fond of it as they are of oats. In January I purchased 
the maple-shade flock of Cotswolds, or, at least, all the 
best ewes in the flock. Since their arrival at " Winning 
Farm " they have been fed Ensilage daily. 



CHAPTER VI. 

TIME WHEN FORAGE PLANTS CONTAIN THE GREATEST AMOUNT 
OF NUTRITIVE VALUE. 

A GREAT advance has been made within a few years in 
agricultural knowledge ; and among the most valuable 
facts learned has been this, that grass contains a greater 
amount of nutrition when in blossom than at any time 
before or afterwards. 

What is true of the common grasses, viz., timothy, red- 
top, orchard-grass, and clover, is equally true of corn, 
which is but a gigantic grass. 

If, then, a stalk of corn contains at the time it blossoms 
more nutritive value than at any subsequent time, how 
foolish and wasteful to let it stand for the ear to form at 
the expense of the stalk, while at the same time great 
loss is going on from the leaves and the stalk, as is the 
case with other and smaller grasses. 

The seed formed in the head of a stalk of timothy or 
other grass — while very rich and nutritious in itself — 
does not by any means compensate for the loss which 
has been sustained bv the stalk and leaves while the 
seed is forming and ripening. 

The loss which is sustained in the ripening process is 
not all. By expending a great amount of labor the corn 
is shucked and put in the cribs. There it suffers more or 
less from the depredations of rats, mice, and other vermin. 

39 



40 THE BOOK OF ENSILAGE. 

We re-shock or stack the corn-fodder. If we hope 
or expect to induce our cattle to eat much of the 
stover, we must cut it with a powerful cutter ; next the 
corn must be ground, and carefully mixed with the cut 
corn-fodder. Then it must be steamed; and after all this 
labor and expense the stock will nose it about in their 
mangers, and leave enough of it to keep themselves well 
bedded. Now what do we accomplish by all this shuck- 
ing, cribbing, grinding, cutting of the fodder, mixing 
and steaming ? Why, we have been getting up a very 
poor quality of " Ensilage " ! 

After the stalks and leaves had become almost worth- 
less by exposure to the rains and dews while the ripen- 
ing of the ears was being accomplished, we then, by 
an expensive, laborious, and roundabout way, try with all 
the appliances of steam and machinery to get the corn 
bacJz into the stalks so that we can induce our cattle to 
eat them. 

Why not take and preserve the plant when its nutritive 
value is the greatest ? when all its valuable elements are 
mixed and blended in an harmonious whole exactly 
adapted for the healthy sustenance of our domestic ani- 
mals, by that Master Chemist whose handiwork as seen 
in the tiniest leaf is so far in advance of our most skilful 
combinations that we can never even hope to comprehend 
how it was formed from the original elements. 

It will be almost unnecessary to state that this system 
of preserving corn-fodder is equally well adapted to all 
the grasses, clover, Hungarian grass, millet, pea and 
bean vines, and, in fact, to all kinds of forage-crops, par- 
ticularly heavy crops of aftermath, which It is often im- 
possible to cure by drying, owing to the lateness of the 
season, the sun by the obliquity of its rays having lost 
much of its potency. 



TIME OF GREATEST NUTRITIVE VALUE. 41 

There is no doubt in my mind that there is more 
available nutrition in a kernel of grain when it is fully 
grown, before it has had time to harden, before a part of 
its substance has been converted into a hard, tough en- 
velope which is almost indigestible, than at any subse- 
quent time. This hard protecting envelope is a wise and 
providential provision to protect the kernel as a seed for 
future crops. Heretofore no means have been known 
to preserve grain except by ripening and drying, nor to 
cure forage crops except by drying : since Ensilage has 
been proved practical, we may now harvest all our crops 
when they contain the greatest available amount of as- 
similable nutritive elements, and preserve them unim- 
paired indefinitely, in this view of the object of ripen- 
ing grain, the conclusion is irresistible that the nutritive 
acme in corn and other grain is to be found at or before 
the blossoming period, as it is in the grasses. 

It is by no means certain, so far as the kernel of grain 
itself is concerned, that the ripened grain contains as 
large an amount of available nutritive elements as it does 
when in the milk. I have often observed that pigs when 
fed upon soft corn grow better than when fed upon old 
corn. Experiments in feeding swine at the West, re- 
ported in "The National Live Stock Journal," show this. 
In the August number I find the following : — 

" There is no article of food for swine, available to the ordinary farm- 
er, that will fatten hogs so rapidly as green corn. Its use may be com- 
menced just as soon as the kernels are fairly filled with ' milk ; ' and 
the gain that young pigs, as well as mature hogs, will make upon this 
food is surprising. In preparing swine for exhibition at the autumn fairs, 
or for an early market for pork, nothing is equal to it." 



CHAPTER VII. 

ANALYSIS AND COMPOSITION OF CORN WHEN CUT IN ITS 
GREEN STATE. 

The following is taken from J. B. Brown's translation, 
and is a letter to Mons. A. Goffart from J. A. Barras, 
Perpetual Secretary of the Central Agricultural Society 
of France, and editor of "Journal de lAgriculture. " 

"You do not seek to produce a fermentation." (Earlier in the experi- 
ments it was thought that fodder could only be preserved in a green state 
by fermentation. This is found to be a mistake : all fermentation is 
but the beginning of decomposition and decay, and should be avoided 
as much as possible, — J. M. B.) "You propose to maintain all its parts 
in a condition as near as possible like that of the plant at the moment it 
was cut. 

" It is important to ascertain what is the distribution of mineral and 
organic matter in the different parts of the stalk of corn. 

" When it is cut for the Silo it becomes a mixture of all parts of the 
plant in such a manner as to give to the stock those which are richest in 
nourishment as well as those that are the poorest. 

" This is one of the advantages of the method. If you give the corn- 
plant to the stock in the natural state, they will eat first the tender parts, 
and will leave the hard parts which offer the most resistance to the teeth 
and have the least flavor. 

" I have taken thirteen stalks of corn weighing altogether 37 pounds." 
(In reducing the weights and measures of the metric system to pounds, 
feet, and inches, I omit small fractions, getting it near enough for all 
practical purposes. — J. M. B.), "and have cufthem up into six lots as 
follows. Each of these lots has been dried at 100 degrees (R.). The 
stalks were cut into three parts. The length of each portion was : upper 
42 



ANALYSIS AND COMPOSITION OF CORN. 



43 



part, 25.50 inches ; middle part, 34.60 inches ; lower part, 31.50 inches. 
Average total lengLn of each stalk without tassels being a fraction over 
nine feet. 

Table No. i. 



Leaves 

Tassel 

Ear, with stem . • 
Upper part of stalk 
Middle part of stalk 
Lower part of stalk . 

13 stalks . . . 



Weight in 
Green State. 



Grammes. 
4.805 
.102 
3.026 
1.270 
2.446 
5-146 



16.795 



Weight after 
Drying. 



Grammes. 
,047 

125 

341 
661 



3-241 



Water, or 
Loss FEK Cent. 



72.63 
56.07 

75-14 
90.15 
86.06 

87-15 



B0.76 



" Thus the water was quite unequally distributed in the stalk. They 
were more watery at the upper part, but the flowering portion was much 
less ; the grain vi^as still milky. 

" The relations between the different parts of the plant are found to 
be as follows : — 

Table No. 2. 



Leaves .... 
Tassel .... 
Ear, with stem . . 
Upper part of stalk 
Middle part of stalk 
Lower part of stalk 



Green State. 




100.00 100.00 



Dry State. 



Per cent of Weight. 
40.57 

65.19 



34.81 



100.00 100.00 



" This shows that the stalks when green surpass in weight the remain- 
der of the organs of the plant. They contain, however, a less propor- 
tion of dry matter, and less even than the leaves which have in the fresh 
state a much less weight. 



44 



THE BOOK OF ENSILAGE. 



" I have analyzed separately each of the six lots ; and I have obtained 
the following composition in organic substance, and ashes or mineral 
substance : — 



Table No. 3. 





STALK. 




< 
w 


I 


< 


5 


w 
►J 

Q 
Q 


W 



Kfl, 
H 
2 
W 


Organic substance 

Ashes oi- mineral substance . . 


86.01 
10.99 


94.80 

5.20 


98.30 
1.70 


9543 
4-57 


97-31 
2.69 


98.26 

1.74 


94.26 

5-74 




100.00 


100.00 


100.00 


100.00 


100.00 


100.00 


1 00.0a 



" Thus it will be seen that the mineral substance is accumulated in 
the leaves and upper part of the stalk. 

" Here are the exact proportions of the mineral substance in the dif- 
ferent organs of corn : — 



Table No. 4. 




Leaves 


• • • 77-70 


Tassel 


. . . 1.22 


Ear and stem 


. . . 6.79 


Upper part of stalk 


• • • 3-13 


Middle part of stalk 


. . . 4-87 


Lower part of stalk 


. . . 6.29 




100.00 



"Thus, more than 77 per cent of mineral substance is accumulated 
in the leaves, more than 14 per cent in the stalk, and only about six per 
cent in the ear. 

" We will now ascertain the composition of the different parts of the 
plants, as appears when dried : — 



ANALYSIS AND COMPOSITION OF CORN. 



45 



Table No. 5. 



Nitrogenous substances . . . 
Fatty matter soluble in ether 
Saccharine matter soluble in al- 
cohol 

Starch 

Cellulose 

Mineral substance 



Total 



Nitrogenous per cent 



STALK. 



6.28 
1.30 

6.50 
64-33 

10.60 

10.99 



1.004 



6.27 
1.90 

4.70 

25-23 
56.70 

5-20 



1.004 



11.09 
2.50 

8.30 

73-51 
2.90 
1.70 



1-775 



4-34 
1. 00 

17-50 

39-49 

33-10 

4-57 



.694 



3.S6 

.40 

20.60 

38.65 

33-80 

2.69 



.617 



3-37 
•30 

21.00 

35-79 
38.00 

1-74 



100.00 



•540 



6.47 
1.28 

11.77 

56-35 

18.37 

5-74 



1-033 



" The ear is found, as we would expect, much richer in nitrogenous 
substance than the other parts of the plant. The nutritive power (or 
comparative value) as it is agreed to define it, by the relation of the 
azotic substance to the sum of the fatty matter, sugar, and starch, is quite 
inferior in the stalks to that of the other organs, as the following table 
jhows. 

"Taking the ear as unity, the proportionate nutritive power is as 
follows : — 

Table No. 6. 



Nutritive Value 

OF THE 

WHOLE Plant. 



.Leaves 

Tassel 

Ears 

Upper part of stalk 
Middle part of stalk 
Lower part of stalk 



2-54 
.09 

2-57 
•17 
.41 
.69 



6.47 



" The stalk, however, shows that it is very rich, and, above all, the 
leaves, which therefore should be taken care of for the cattle. The fatty 
matter is concentrated in the leaves and in the ear, the saccharine mat- 
ter in the leaves and stalk, and mostly in the lower part of the stalk. 



46 



THE BOOK OF ENSILAGE. 



" The following table indicates the concentration . of saccharine mat- 
ter in the leaves and stalk : — 

Table No. 7. 



Per cent of dif- 

feuent i'arts 
to the whole. 



Leaves 

Tassel 

Ears 

Upper part of stalk 
Middle part of stalk 
Lower part of stalk 




" Cellulose substance is, as we would expect, in large proportion in 
the stalk, and mostly toward the lower part of it. It is principally in the 
leaves and ears with stem, that the starch and the other principles which 
are neither cellulose nor nitrogenous nor mineral are found : — • 



Table No. 8. 



Phosphoric acid . . . 
Sulphuric acid .... 

Chlorine ^ 

Potash . . . . . . 

Soda 

Lime 

Magnesia 

Iron 

Silex 

Carbonic acid and waste 



M 



3.81 

1-35 
4.41 
8.26 
12.96 
6.60 
0.51 

5475 
0.18 



3-97 
3.21 
1.04 
1.23 
6.78 

13-78 
5.64 
0.46 

63.76 
o.i^ 



10.01 

6.13 

2-73 
7.8S 

10-37 
n.87 

15-03 
o.ii 

35-S3 
0.03 



100.00 100.00 



33-50 

3-58 

3-52 

27.11 

21.36 

3-46 

7.04 

Trace. 

0.34 
0.09 



9.07 

5.61 

2.15 

14.61 

12.57 

10.29 

10.52 

2.08 

2983 

3-~7 



14.02 

8.65 

Trace. 

2.41 

8.39 

i4-3f 
8.73 
0.63 

41-37 



7.17 
3.81 

1-35 
4.41 
8.26 
12.96 
6.60 
0.51 

54-75 
0.18 



"The above table shows that the ears are the richest in phosphoric 
acid and -potash. These also contain the largest percentage of soda, 
the least of lime and silex. 



ANALYSIS AND COMPOSITION OF CORN. 



47 



" As to the distribution of each mineral element in the different parts 
of the plant, it is necessary, in order to study it thoroughly, to enter into 
a more detailed and separate examination. Phosphoric acid or phos- 
phorus plays an important part in agriculture, not because it is more 
indispensable to vegetation than several other elements, but because na- 
ture has not distributed it with so much profusion in all lands or in the 
atmosphere as certain other elements that on that account are considered 
secondary. Indeed, there is not any one element in vegetation of any 
greater importance than another ; and, if any person judges otherwise, it 
is because he places himself at the point of view of an agriculturist who, 
having need to produce certain crops of a special kind, needs to accu- 
mulate such elements as enter specially into their organization. 

" Therefore, in order to obtain abundant food, in order to produce 
with rapidity domestic animals whose organs require much phosphorus, 
it is necessary to seek methods for increasing the supply of phosphates, 
more or less assimilable, that the plants may find in the bed where their 
roots develop. 

"To indicate the sources of the supply, whether in the residuum of 
factories, or of the household, or in the numerous repositories, has been 
one of the greatest services rendered in modern times to agriculture by 
chemistry and geology. 

" But there our knowledge ends : we are entirely ignorant as to how 
the phosphorus distributes itself in the vegetable, by what process it 
penetrates and circulates and accumulates in certain organs, or exactly 
what these organs are. 

" As to the relative distribution of these elements ; the following tables 
show as far as concerns maize fodder intended for green preservation 
by Ensilage. 

PHOSPHORIC ACID. 

Table No. g. 



Leaves . . . . . 

Tassel 

Ears 

Upper stalk . . . 
Middle stalk . . . 
Lower stalk . . . 

Whole plant, dry 



Amount in each 

PART. 



0.412 



Present in dif- 
ferent PARTS. 



Grammes. 




0.177 


42.96 


0.007 


1.70 


0.132 


32.04 


0.020 


4.S5 


0.026 


6.31 


0.050 


I2.r4 



48 



THE BOOK OF ENSILAGE. 



SULPHURIC ACID. 

" The role of sulphur in vegetation is nearly unknown : all that we 
know is that it is absolutely necessary. It is generally found in less pro- 
portion than phosphorus, in corn as 88 to i8o. 



Table No. lO. 



Quantity in each 

PART. 



Per cent in each 

PART. 



Leaves 

Tassel 

Ears 

Upper part of stalk 
Middle part of stalk 
Lower part of stalk . 

Whole plant, dry 



Grammes. 
.144 
0.005 
0.014 
0.009 
0.016 
0.031 



0.219 



6575 
2.28 

6-39 
4.11 

7-3° 
♦14.17 



CHLORINE. 

"By the conclusive experiments of Prince de Salon-Horstman we 
know that chlorine is indispensable to the regular operations of the 
different phases of vegetation ; but the most complete obscurity rests 
upon its real action. 

Table No. 11. 



Quantity in each 

PART. 



Per cent in dif- 
ferent PARTS. 



Leaves 

Tassel . . . .■ . 

Ears 

Upper stalk . . . 
Middle stalk . . . 
Lower stalk . . . 

Whole plant, dry 



Grammes. 
0.047 
0.002 
0.014 
0.009 
0.006 
Traces. 



0.07S 



60.26 
2.56 

17-95 

11.54 

7.69 

Traces. 



POTASH. 

"Berthier's saying, 'No plant without potash,' has become a maxim. 



ANALYSIS AND COMPOSITION OF CORN. 



49 



TaMe No. 12. 



Quantity in each 

PART. 



Per cent in each 

PART. 



Leaves 

Tassel 

Ears 

Upper part stalk 
Middle part stalk . 
Lower part stalk 

Whole plant, dry 



Grammes. 
00.5 s 
0.006 
0.107 
0.036 
0.041 
0.008 



0-253 



21.94 
2.27 
42.29 
14.23 
16.20 
3-17 



100.00 



SODA IN CORN. 

" In the whole plant 0.475 grammes, of which two-thirds accumulated 
in the corn and one-sixth in the ears. 



LIME IN CORN. 



" Lime has been considered necessary to plant-growth from a very 
ancient period : more than four-fifths are found in the leaves, only two 
per cent in the ear, and the quantity increases in descending the stalk. 



MAGNESIA IN CORN. 

"The role of magnesia in vegetation has been but httle studied. 
There is no doubt, however, after the experiments made in Germany, 
that its presence is indispensable to plants. Two-thirds of it is found 
in the leaves, and the remainder equally divided in the other five parts 
of the plant. 

IRON EST MAIZE. 

" Iron is evidently of great importance to the life of animals who are 
nourished by vegetation. As with sulphur, chlorine, soda, lime, and 
magnesia, the greatest accumulation is in the leaves. But it is a notice- 
able fact that it is absent from the ear, which would seem to explain the 
opinion of physicians as to the insufficiency of corn-meal for exclusive 
human food. 

" As to corn harvested green in order to be fed to cattle after Ensi- 
lage, the lack of it in the ear is equalized by its presence in other parts 
of the plant. ' 



50 



THE BOOK OF ENSILAGE. 



SILICA. 

" It is probable that all silica enters the organs of vegetation in the 
soluble state. The quantity found is very considerable. 





Table No. 


13- 










Quantity in each 

PART. 


Per cent in dif- 
ferent PARTS. 


Leaves 

Tassel 

Ears 


Grammes. 
2.843 
0.026 
0.00 1 
0.042 
0.084 
0.147 




9045 
0.82 

O.O"? 


Upper part of stalk 


2.67 

4.70 


Middle part of stalk '..•.. 


( Lower part of stalk 








1 Whole plant, dry . 


3-143 




100 00 







" Thus the stalk contains only about one-tenth part of the amount 
in the leaves, which contain 90 per cent of the whole plant." 

Thus it is seen by the Table No. i, that the ear with 
cob and stem forms but about one-fifth of the whole 
plant either in its green or its dry state. By Table No. 
2, that the leaves contain of solid material over 40 per 
cent of the whole plant. By Table No. 4, that of the 
mineral constituents the leaves contain over three-fourths 
of all the mineral element in the whole plant. 

But referring to Table No. 6 we find that when none 
of the valuable attributes of the plant are lost, the 
value of the ear as compared to the leaves is as 2.57 
to 2.54 ; and, as compared to the whole plant, as 2.57 to 
6.47. This shows the stock, leaves, and tassel to be 
worth nearly three times as much as the ear, taken when 
the ear is in the milk. Experiments made last season in 
the West showed that hogs fattened faster upon green 
corn (probably past the milky stage) than when fed 
upon old corn. 



ANALYSIS AND COMPOSITION OF CORN 51 

Table No. 7 shows that the ear and cob contain less 
than one-sixth as much sugar as the whole plant, and 
but little more than two-thirds as much as the leaves, 
and little more than one-fourth as much as the stalk. 

While the ears are richer in proportion to their weight 
in phosphoric acid, — the most expensive mineral which 
we require to restore to our long-cropped fields, es- 
pecially where dairying has been pursued, — still Table 
No. 9 shows that the leaves altogether contain one- 
fourth more than the ear, and that the ear contains but 
32 per cent of that contained in the whole plant. 
Tables 10 and 11 show that the ears contain but 6 per 
cent of the sulphuric acid, and but 18 per cent of the 
chlorine. And Table 1 2 is still more instructive ; for it 
shows that the leaves contain more than half as much 
potash as the ears, that the stalk contains nearly as much 
as the ear, and that the ear with the cob and stem con- 
tain but 42 per cent of the potash contained in the 
whole plant. Iron — that which gives color not only to 
the beautiful and luxurant vegetation, but paints the rose 
upon the cheek of health, and gives vigor to the animal 
system, and strength and clearness to the human brain, 
— is not found in the ears at all. 

Of silica we find that over ninety per cent is in the 
leaves, while but three one-hundredths of one per cent 
are in the ear. 

The lesson I wish to draw from this summary is two- 
fold. First, — it is shown that the ear contains, before 
the stalk has lost by deterioration through exposure to 
the weather, but a small part of the valuable constitu- 
ents of the whole plant. 

The following table, carefully compiled from the fore- 
going, gives the comparative value which the ear bears 
to the balance of the plant. 



52 



THE BOOK OF ENSILAGE. 



Nutritive Value of the Ear, compared to the Rest of the Plant. 



In the Ear. 



In balance of the 
Plant. 



Total. 



Solid matter . . . 

Sugar 

Mineral substances 
Phosphoric acid . . 
Sulphuric acid . . 
Chlorine . . . . 

Potash 

Soda 

Lime 

Magnesia . . . . 

Iron 

Silica 



23.20 
16.41 

6.79 
32.04 

6-39 
17-95 
42.29 
16.66 

2.00 
.6.67 
Trace. 

0.03 



76.80 

83-59 
93.21 
67.96 
93.61 
82.05 
57-71 
83-34 
98.00 

93-33 
100.00 

99-97 



100 
100 
100 
100 
1 00 
100 
100 
100 
100 
100 
100 
100 



Now, all of these mineral constituents are necessary 
for the health and well-being of our domestic animals ; 
and when corn is cured by Ensilage they are all present 
in solution, so that when introduced into the alimentary 
canal such parts and proportions as the animal economy 
requires. can be readily taken up and assimilated. Now 
comes an almost equally important fact ; and it is this, — 
a very large proportion of these mineral constituents of 
the plant passes through the animals, and is found in 
their excrements. 

When corn is preserved by Ensilage, all of these 
valuable mineral elements are in condition, when ap- 
plied in the manure to the next crop, to be immedi- 
ately taken up and assimilated by the growing plants. 
What an immense saving is here ! When corn-fodder 
is cured by desiccation, many of the leaves, that part of 
the plant which is richest in mineral matter, are lost, 
being blown by the winds into the fence-corners, and 
other out-of-the-way places where their mineral wealth 
is wasted. The stalks are not eaten and digested by the 



ANALYSIS AND COMPOSITION OF CORN 



53 



animals, are a nuisance in the manure-pile, and are at 

least two years in becoming sufficiently decomposed in 

the held, so that their mineral fertilizing material is in 
condition for the growing plant to avail itself of. 




CHAPTER VIII. 

EXPLANATIONS WHY ENSILAGE MUST KEEP. 

Many farmers and others came to see the process of 
filHng the Silo with the green corn - fodder ; nearly all 
declared that it would spoil, mould, heat, and rot. Sev- 
eral said, " I guess you will have a fine lot of manure 
before winter." I replied, " Gentlemen, it will not spoil 
at all ; it will not even heat : it will come out just as 
good feeding stuff as it is now, and I think better." 

None of them believed a word I said, it was plain to 
be seen. They were certain that this last of my " new- 
fangled notions " would prove a complete failure, and 
they would have the laugh on me this time. Some 
endeavored to cheer me up by saying that " even if it 
did not work well for the purpose I intended, the Silos 
would be a capital place to store fruit in, so that it won't 
be all loss, any way." 

This kind of talk had been going on for several days, 
and was, I confess, getting to be rather monotonous. 
One day a number of well-meaning but incredulous 
neighboring farmers were present. They knew nothing 
of agricultural chemistry, or the philosophy of its pres- 
ervation ; but I made up my mind I would convince them 
that the green corn-fodder would keep instead of rotting : 
therefore I said, "You think it will heat and spoil, do 

54 



EXPLANATIONS WHY ENSILAGE MUST KEEP. 55 

you ? " — " Yes, I am afraid it will," said they each and 
all." — " Now, I tell you it won't do any such thing." 
" Why won't it ? what makes you think so ? " they asked. 
I knew that I might quote M. Goffart, and all the agri- 
cultural scientists in the world to them till doomsday, 
and it would have no impression on their minds, so I 
took homely illustrations. Said I, "Why doesn't a pile 
of horse-manure heat when it is left in the stable all 
winter under the feet of the horses, until it gets three or 
four feet deep ? Why doesn't sheep-manure heat when 
it is left all winter in the sheep-folds, and becomes a foot 
and a half to two feet deep? " — " Because it is trod doivn 
so solid, the air can't get into it." — " Just so! that is the 
reason this corn-fodder won't heat and spoil : it is ' trod 
down' so solid that the air cannot get into it," I rejoined. 
This was rather a staggerer. " Is there any thing which 
is quicker to heat when it has a chance than horse or 
sheep manure?" I asked. " No-0-0," they reluctantly 
admitted. " Now see here," said I : " haven't you all 
noticed in the spring, when you were' getting out your 
hog-manure, that you often came across, in the bottom 
of the yards, buried under the manure, potato-vines and 
weeds which had been thrown in to the hogs the fall 
before, that were just as green and fresh as when they 
were first pulled out of the ground?"* They all replied, 
" Yes, we have." 

BlLLERlCA, April 21, 1880. 

* My Good Doctor, — According to request I send you an account of the find- 
ing of a fresh and perfectly preserved lily-pad, six or seven feet below the surface 
of one of our Concord-river meadows. It was in perfect shape, and as green and 
healthy-looking as in its prime of life. Having a love for geological researches, and 
thinking these meadows had some time been deposited by the river, I concluded to 
make an examination. At the top I found a foot in depth of black meadow soil ; 
then, next below, another foot in depth of diatomacious deposit of microscopic shells, 
composed entirely of pure silex, so small that they make a good silver-polish. I then 
came to a pure .vegetable deposit, consisting of sticks and leaves, four feet deep. 
At the bottom of this I found green and well-preserved lily-pads, clam-shells, char- 



56 THE BOOK OF ENSILAGE. 

" Well, " said I, " my Ensilage will keep just the same 
way, I trample it down solid as it is put in the Silos, 
cover it with rye-straw, then floor it over with plank, and 
put about a foot in depth of cobble-stones or bowlders 
which will press it down solid as a cider-cheese. No air 
can then get in. The air and gases already in will be 
continually being forced out by the weight. Therefore 
it cannot heat any more than the horse and sheep 
manure can when it is trodden down compactly." They 
were silenced. 

Pretty soon one old farmer who has got a great deal 
of good, hard, sound sense in his head, slowly looked 
round, and' still more deliberately said, " By Horn, I've 
changed my mind ! I believe it will keep. But you will 
have to feed it all out before the weather begins to get 
warm in the spring, won't you ? " — " No," I replied : " the 
outside temperature has nothing to do with its keeping. 
Won't a pile of horse or sheep manure ' heat ' and ' burn ' 
if it lies up loose so that the air can get at it in the win- 
ter, be it ever so cold, just as badly as in the hottest days 
of summer?" 

** Well, there ain't much difference," said he. " Now, it 
is just the same with Ensilage," I replied. *' If it does 
not ' heat ' in the winter, it will not in the summer. It 
is the presence of air, or rather of the oxygen in the air, 
which causes manure or any damp mass of organic mat- 
ter to ferment or decay." — " Well," said he, as he started 
for his team, " as I said afore, I believe it will come out 
all right." The rest of them said nothing ; and whether 
all of them have found out to this time that it does keep, 

coal, and sticks with marks of beaver-teeth, all in a fine state of preservation. These 
deposits must have been preserved here, perfectly excluded from light and air, for at 
least a thousand years. 

Very respectfully, 

Daniel Parker, M.D. 



EXPLANATIONS WHY ENSILAGE MUST KEEP. 57 

or not, I am unable to say. One thing is certain : they 

^vere silenced for once. 

^, NjOw, my explanation why it keeps, and why it is some- 
what sour, is this : — 

When it is cut ever so fine, and trodden down ever so 
vigorously, still there is some air left in the little spaces 
between the pieces of the stalks ; and the dried leaves, if 
there are any, are full of air which has taken the place of 
the sap which has evaporated. Large stalks, after being 
cut four-tenths of an inch long, are finer than small ones ; 
which is one reason among several why the corn which 
grows the largest is the best for Ensilage. The oxygen 
in this amount of air — be it greater or smaller — im- 
mediately starts a fermentation. Fermentation, mould, 
decay, rot, and fire are all identical. The only difference 
is in the degree of speed with which the combustion 
goes on. They all alike depend upon the presence of 
oxygen, and cease when this active agent of destruction 
is removed. The process of combustion, whether slow 
or rapid, consumes oxygen, and gives out carbonic acid 
gas. 

This fermentation consumes the small amount of oxy- 
gen which is contained in the mass of Ensilage, and 
liberates an amount of carbonic acid gas which takes the 
place of the oxygen. The fermentation in its incipient 
stage is arrested for want of oxygen. None can get in 
from the top ; for the compression which is constantly 
going on is all the time forcing the gases out, and where 
there is ever so slight a flow out, none can possibly flow 
in. Then, as the carbonic acid gas is heavier than the 
atmosphere, the sides and bottom of the Silo being tight, 
and as the carbonic acid gas cannot leak out, the air 
cannot get down into the space occupied by the carbonic 
acid gas, any more than air can get down into a jug filled 



58 THE BOOK OF ENSILAGE. 

with water or other heavy liquid until the water or other 
liquid is poured or leaks out. The Ensilage is thu^^ 
imtnersed in a bath of carbonic acid gas. Ferment^ion^ 
under such circumstances is an impossibility. 



CHAPTER IX. 

ENSILAGE ADAPTED TO WARM AS WELL AS COLD CLIMATES. 

Right here let me reply to an opinion which I saw 
expressed in a Southern paper which was commenting 
upon the success which had attended the " Winning- 
Farm" Ensilage experiment: "We understand Dr. Bai- 
ley intends to try the experiment at 'Virginia Stock 
Farm.' We shall await the result of his trial with a 
great deal of interest, and hope he will succeed equally 
well ; but we fear that while this system of preserving 
green forage-crops will doubtless prove of incalculable 
benefit to the North, we do not think it will answer in 
as warm a climate as Virginia." 

If any of my fellow farmers in Virginia or other South- 
ern States have the same fear, let me call their attention 
to the fact that the climate of that part of France where 
M. Goffart has been so successful in preserving fodder 
by Ensilage is nearly if not quite as warm as Virginia, 
Kentucky, Tennessee, or Missouri ; and also to the rea- 
sons given in the preceding chapter. I believe the 
system is equally applicable wherever the winter's cold 
or the droughts of summer necessitate the preservation 
of forage for the food of domestic animals. 

The sourness or acidity which is, I believe, always 
present in a greater or less degree, especially if the 

59 



6o THE BOOK OF ENSILAGE. 

corn is allowed to stand In the field until the ear is fully 
formed, is far from being an injury : on the contrary, 
it is probably an advantage. Nearly if not all of our 
domestic animals gain faster when their food is allowed 
to stand and ferment until more or less sour before 
feeding. 

This has been demonstrated at the Massachusetts 
Agricultural College. There all food is chopped and 
steamed. By actual experiments it was noticed that the 
animal gained faster, and had a better appetite, when the 
steamed food was allowed to stand twenty-four hours, at 
least, to ferment until there was a perceptible degree of 
sourness, than when fed upon the same food before any 
such change had taken place. 

In regard to swine, every farmer knows that they gain 
faster upon sour, not putrid food, than upon sweet. 

The other day a neighbor of mine, a most excellent 
farmer, called to see Ensilage. He winters about 60 
head of cattle. He informed me that several years ago 
he began to cut his hay and other fodder, and mix his 
grain ' with the cut fodder, wetting it thoroughly with 
boiling water. He found a very considerable gain in so 
doing. About three years ago he began to mix and wet 
with boiling water a day's feed for his stock, and let it 
stand twenty-four hours before feeding, during which 
time it ferments and becomes quite sour. He informed 
me that his stock ate it better for the fermentation, and 
that there is a saving of at least 50 per cent in the 
amount of hay they required, from the amount they 
required if fed dry and uncut. His process, doubtless, 
has somewhat the same effect in facilitating the diges- 
tion and assimilation of the starch and other nutritive 
elements in the fodder as is produced by Ensilaging. 

Among the many minor advantages to be gained by 



ENSILAGE ADAPTED TO WARM CLIMATES. 6 1 

adopting the system of Ensilage is the lessening of the 
danger from fire. The tramp with his pipe, or the in- 
cendiary with his match, would have hard work to raise 
much of a blaze in a Silo with nothing but Ensilage for 
fuel. 

Another is, the crop can be all planted at one time. 
Large lands can be ploughed and harrowed, long rows 
planted admitting the use of agricultural implements to 
greater advantage, and much less time consumed in 
turning corners. The work can be not only accom- 
plished in less time, but easier and better. 

The dairyman and stock-raiser can systemize their 
work. They will have all winter to get out their manure, 
which they can spread broadcast upon the winter rye. 
They will have no spring's work except to " slick up," 
repair fences, &c., see;, to the kitchen and fruit garden. 
They can now find tir^ to trim their orchards, to graft 
over trees which beari^felesirable fruit, and to put out 
that " little patch of stf^berries," which they have been 
promising the good wife so long, but which they never 
before, in the hurry of their spring's work, could get time 
to attend to. 

Then, when all the little jobs that ought to be attended 
to in the spring are done up, the potatoes planted, and 
the pleasant days of May have come, the broad fields of 
waving rye are beginning to show their shining heads, 
and the time for work is here. -- 

If the farmer I am writing about now, is a worker, and 
economical, — and he is both, — he has been changing 
work with his neighbors, helping them get their spring's 
work done ; and now they come with their cradles, and in 
three days the 20 acres of rye are all safely housed. Or, 
if he has a reaper, — which he has not, — it can be done 
in one day.' No waiting for fair weather : a cloudy day 



62 THE BOOK OF ENSILAGE. 

is just as good as any ; even if it rains a little, no need 
for the work to stop. 'Tis but the work of a couple of 
hours to replace the plank covering, throw on the bowl- 
ders, and the rye Ensilage is saved. 

Now comes ploughing-in the rye stubble. Three or 
four teams make quick work of the 20-acre field. I use 
the Cassidy sulky plough. It saves not only the labor of 
holding the plough, but does the work better. Land so 
hard that it cannot be ploughed with a common plough is 
turned over without difficulty. It is much easier for the 
team. You can turn corners quicker, and plough closer 
to fences. At "Virginia Stock Farm" we averaged with 
each pair of horses 20 acres per week. For ploughing 
under weeds or green crops, nothing is equal to it. It 
is smoothed and fined in one day by a boy and a pair of 
horses with the Thomas smoothing-harrow. In four 
days the farmer himself can plafht' it in drills 3^^ feet 
apart, using one bushel of seed to the acre, with one 
horse and an Albany planter. '^Or if he has a Farm- 
er's Favorite grain-drill, with a pair of horses, he can 
plant it in less than two days, at the same time distrib- 
uting a little fertilizer in the drill. (This will pay, no 
matter how rich your land is.) 

Every farmer ought to have a Farmer's Favorite 
grain-drill, if he raises 20 acres of Ensilage. 

With it he can drill in his rye after his corn is cut, 
which is better than broadcasting, can save ten bushels 
of seed, and will have a better crop. 

It has two sets of "feed-cups," which make it the best 
combined grain-drill and corn-planter in the world. 

If he thinks he cannot afford the Farmer's Favorite 
grain-drill, he must have an Albany seed-sower and corn- 
planter. 

After his corn is planted, he has nothing to do but 



ENSILAGE ADAPTED TO WARM CLIMATES. 6 



o 



look after his stock, attend to the garden, and hve the 
hfe an American farmer ought to Hve. A boy and a 
pair of horses with the Thomas smoothing-harrow one 
day in a week will keep the corn free from weeds, 
the soil completely pulverized, inducing absorption and 
preventing evaporation, until the corn is a foot high. 
Then, when it is about waist high, he will want one 
of Timothy B. Hussey's Centennial improved horse- 
hoes. With it he can hoe five to seven acres a day 
better than it can possibly be done by hand, killing and 
burying up every weed, and throwing just earth enough 
around the stalks to strengthen them and prevent the 
wind from breaking them over. Corn is growing very 
rapidly now, and is very tender, and I think is better for 
a little hilling. By the way, let me say here that I have 
a quantity of seed-corn expressly raised for me for 
Ensilage. I tested it last year on a small scale. I had 
single stalks which before the tassel was in sight weighed 
nine pounds ; others when fully grown with the grain in 
the milk weighed over 15 pounds each. I can safely 
guarantee this corn if planted upon good corn land, in 
good condition well manured, with proper cultivation to 
produce from 40 to 75 tons to the acre of green fodder 
just right for Ensilage. The stalk is extremely sweet 
and succulent ; some of them being over six inches in 
circumference and 14 feet high, with an immense amount 
of long, broad leaves, some of which measured four feet 
ten inches in length, and 6l inches in width. It will not 
require more than half a bushel to plant an acre (of other 
kinds one bushel is needed) ; so that, although it is some- 
what high-priced by the pound or bushel, it does not cost 
so very much more by the acre. It should be planted in 
drills four feet apart, with the stalks six to eight inches 
apart in the rows. Be sure and not get it too thick, 



64 THE BOOK OF ENSILAGE. 

for it throws out a great number of suckers, and to yield 
a large crop must have room and air. I will send sam- 
ple bags of this Mammoth Ensilage corn by mail, 
containing one pound, on receipt of 60 cents ; three 
pounds, $1.50 ; by express or freight, half a peck, $1.25 ; 
one peck, $2.00; half a bushel, $3.00; one bushel, 
$5.00; two bushels or more, ^4.00 per bushel. No 
charge for bags. 

It is a waste of time to plant common sweet corn. 
None of it is as sweet as this Ensilage corn, nor as 
nutritious, and it will not yield one-third as much ; be- 
sides it is much easier to cut up a ton of large stalks than 
a ton of small ones. It is just as easy to cut with the cut- 
ter, easier to feed into the cutter, and, when cut, the disks 
split into small pieces, so that the Ensilage is as fine as 
if the stalks were small, and packs closer in the Silo. 
There is every advantage in growing the Mammoth 
Ensilage corn. 

Now I want to say something about fodder-cutters. 
We must have a self-feeding machine, which will cut or 
shred (which would be better, as it would pack closer, 
thereby excluding the air more completely) at least sixty 
tons per day without any labor on the part of the men 
tending it, except that required to throw the fodder in 
armfuls upon the apron of the machine. 

I think I have found it in Baldwin's Improved Ameri- 
can fodder-cutter. I shall try it this spring when I 
Ensilage my rye, and, if satisfactory upon trial, will in a 
second edition (if one is called for) tell you all about 
it. One thing I will say now: a cutter which has but one 
feed-roller will not answer. There must be two rollers, 
the top one fluted, the bottom roller smooth, between 
which the fodder must pass. The top roller must be 
geared to rise and fall, to adjust itself so that a large or 



ENSILAGE ADAPTED TO WARM CLIMATES. 65 

small amount of fodder will be fed with the same speed 
and regularity. 

Baldwin's fodder-cutter I believe to be the best cut- 
ting machine for Ensilaging purposes on the market. 

■I think tearing or shredding the stalks would be much 
better than cutting. The fodder shredded must pack 
closer, thereby giving less room for air. I have invented, 
and am perfecting, a machine which will cut and shred 
fodder of all kinds, with the expenditure of one-half the 
power all other machines I have seen require to do the 
same work. I utilize a principle never before made use 
of in fodder-cutters. I hope to have it completed, and 
be able to furnish it in season for the Ensilaging of 
the corn. To successfully preserve green fodder, three 
things are essential : first, that the fodder shall be in as 
fine a condition as possible so as to compact ; second, 
that the Silos shall be air and water tight on the sides 
and bottom ; third, that sufficient weight shall be placed 
upon it in order to press out all or nearly all of the air. 
If the air can be all forced out, there will be no fermen- 
tation, and the Ensilage will keep indefinitely in the 
same condition as when put into the Silo. In that case, 
in order to receive the full benefit of the system of En- 
silage, it will be necessary to pile up the Ensilage upon 
the stable floor twelve to twenty- four hours, until active 
fermentation takes place, before feeding, that the bene- 
fits of fermentation may be secured as explained in the 
following chapter. 



CHAPTER X. 

A NEW DISCOVERY. 

During my investigations and experiments it occurred 
to me that it would be a great improvement to mix the 
concentrated nitrogenous grain, such as the refuse from 
flour-mills, wheat, rye, or buckwheat bran, shorts or mid- 
dlings, the refuse grains and feeding-stuff from brewer- 
ies, or prepared animal food from fish and meat scraps, 
such as Bowker's animal meal, fish-scrap prepared by 
Goodale's process or otherwise, with the green corn-stalks 
or other forage crops at the time of Ensilaging. 

For while the Ensilaging of green corn, rye, and other 
succulent forage-crops is an immense advance over the 
old system of curing forage-crops by desiccation, and 
while such Ensilage is a most excellent and succulent 
food for all domestic animals, still it is by no means a 
perfect food, being deficient in albuminoids : therefore it 
is necessary to add to the ration of Ensilage a certain 
amount of concentrated nitrogenous food in the form ot 
grain, or animal-scrap-meal, or other concentrated cattle 
foods containing albuminoids to excess. 

Animals fed exclusively upon Ensilaged corn will 
become fat, dull, heavy, and lymphatic, the nervous and 
muscular systems not receiving that degree of nutrition 
which they require for their full development. 



A NEW DISCOVERY. 67 

Starch, the chief nutritive element in corn and other 
carbonaceous plants, is almost identical in its chemical 
constituents with sugar. But it is difficult to digest by 
reason of the toughness of the envelope which encloses 
the starch-cell. 

The gastric juice of the stomach being able to dissolve 
but a part of them, the remainder passes from the ani- 
mal in its excrement, and is lost. 

The softening and fermentive process through which 
the Ensilage passes in the Silo bursts the starch-cells, 
and converts the starch into sugar, as is evinced by the 
strong odor of alcohol which is emitted when the Ensi- 
lage is exposed to the action of the oxygen in the 
atmosphere. The digestion of the Ensilage is thus ren- 
dered easier, and its assimilation more perfect. 

By mixing the concentrated nitrogenous food with the 
comminuted forage at the time of Ensilaging, the labor 
of feeding the concentrated nitrogenous food is reduced 
to a minimum. 

The nitrogenous food is also subjected to the same 
softening and fermentive process. The carbo-hydrates in 
it (composed largely of starch) are liberated, and fitted 
for easy digestion and assimilation. The albuminoids 
(which contain the nitrogen) are also rendered more 
digestible and assimilable by this process of maceration 
and fermentation, which has the same effect substan- 
tially upon them as that which is produced by the pro- 
cess of steaming or cooking. 

The concentrated food should be added in such 
amounts that the mixture shall contain the proper com- 
parative amounts of albuminoids and carbo-hydrates 
which are best adapted to the sustenance and growth of 
our domestic animals. An addition of about ten per 
cent of wheat-bran to the corn-fodder would make the 



68 THE BOOK OF ENSILAGE. 

mixture about equal to the best clover hay, and would 
be admirably adapted for milch-cows, young and growing 
cattle, and colts. It is also excellent for breeding-ewes, 
and for swine nothing could be better. 

The great importance of this 7iew discovery, both in the 
saving of labor and increasing the nutritive value of the 
concentrated food over that which it has when fed in a 
dry and raw state, and the fear that some avaricious per- 
son might take out letters-patent upon the process, and 
seek to prevent the full benefits of this great and 
improved system of Ensilage from being adopted, by 
exorbitant claims for royalty, has induced me to make 
application for a patent upon the process of mixing con- 
centrated nitrogenous cattle-foods with the comminut- 
ed green corn, rye, or other succulent forage at the thne 
of Ensilaging the same, in such proportions as shall give 
to the mixture the proper amounts of albuminoids and 
carbo-hydrates which are best adapted to the growth and 
subsistence of our domestic animals. Besides the labor 
saved in feeding (at least ^1.50 for each ton of grain), 
and the increased value by facilitating digestion (fully ten 
per cent) , is the certainty that each animal will get its 
ration, and no more. No heedless stable-boy will empty 
two measures of grain into one cow's manger, and give 
none to the next, thereby depriving one of the necessary 
food, and impairing the digestion of the other by an 
overfeed. 



CHAPTER XI. 

FOOD INGREDIENTS. CHEMICAL TERMS EXPLAINED. 

Water. — If a piece of wood or wisp of hay be dried some time in 
a liot oven, more or less water will be driven off. The water in feeding- 
stuffs varies from 80 to 90 pounds in every 100 pounds of young grass 
or fodder-corn, to only 8 or 10 pounds to the 100 in dry straw or hay. 

Organic Substance. — If the dried wood or hay be burned, most of 
it will pass off as gas, vapor, or smoke. The part thus burned away is 
the organic substance. The residue : — 

The Ash contains the mineral matters, that is, the potash, lime, phos- 
phoric acid, &c., of the plant. The most important part for our present 
purpose is the organic, the combustible matter. This consists of three 
kinds of ingredients, albuminoids, carbo-hydrates, and fats. The main 
point in economical feeding is to secure the right proportions of these 
at the lowest cost. 

Albuminoids — also called protein compounds, proteids, and flesh- 
formers — contain carbon, oxygen, hydrogen and nitrogen. Thus they 
differ from the carbo-hydrates and fats, which contain no nitrogen. 
The name albuminoids comes from albumen, which we know very well 
as the whites of eggs, and it is found in milk. The fibrin of bone and 
muscle (lean meat) and the casein (curd) of milk are also albuminoids. 
Indeed, the sohd part of blood, nerves, lean meat, gristle, skin, &:c., con- 
sist chiefly of albuminoids. In plants they are equally important ; plant 
albumen occurs in nearly all vegetable juices, especially in potatoes and 
wheat, casein or legumin in beans and peas, and fibrin in the gluten of 
wheat, the basis of what farmer-boys call " wheat gum." Clover, bran, 
beans, peas, oil-cake, and flesh and meat-scrap are rich in albuminoids. 

Carbo-hydrates consist of carbon and hydrogen. The most impor- 
tant are starch, sugar, and cellulose (woody fibre) . They make up a 

69 



JO THE BOOK OF ENSILAGE. 

laxger part of the solids of plants, but only a little of them is stored in 
the animal body. Potatoes, wheat, poor hay, straw, and cornstalks con- 
sist largely of carbo-hydrates. 

Fats have more carbon than carbo-hydrates, and like them have no 
nitrogen. Fat meat, tallow, lard, fish-oil, the fat (butter) of milk, and 
linseed oil are familiar examples of fats. Indian com, oil-cake, cotton- 
seed and linseed, are rich in fatty matters." [The last three are also 
rich in albuminoids.] — From American Agriculturist, yanuary, jSyg. 



CHAPTER XII. 



CAPACITY OF SILOS. 



A CUBIC foot of Ensilage weighs from 40 to 50 pounds ; 
a daily ration for a cow is 50 to 60 pounds : therefore it 
is only necessary to allow one-and-one-half cubic feet for 
each cow daily, to tell how large a Silo is wanted. First 
let the stock-raiser or dairyman decide how many head 
of stock he wants to keep : the number he has kept will 
be no criterion. 

" Winning Farm" three years' ago could keep but six 
head of cows and one horse : now 35 cattle, 5 horses, 
and 125 sheep are kept, and there is every probability 
of doubling the number next season. One cubic foot 
will keep a sheep a week in good condition. According 
to the rule laid down above, it will require 547|- cubic 
feet of Ensilage to keep one cow one year. To keep 
two cows, a Silo is required ten feet wide, ten feet long, 
and ten feet deep. This would hold about twenty-five 
tons, and could be grown upon one-half acre of rich, 
warm land. For four cows it should be built twice as 
long. It will only be necessary to have your Silos con- 
tain 550 cubic feet for each cow's subsistence for twelve 
months. If the cows are pastured six months of the 
year, then 275 cubic feet of Ensilage will be sufficient 
for each cow. It is very important that the sides should 
be perpendicular, and smoothly plastered with a cement- 
plaster, so tliat the Ensilage will settle evenly, and in 



72 THE BOOK OF ENSILAGE. 

order that the plank covering may have nothing to catch 
upon as it settles under the heavy weights placed upon it. 

Small Silos, capable of holding enough Ensilage for 
ten to twenty cows, can be constructed by digging and 
walling up, as for a cellar, when stone is plenty. Mix 
one part cement with two parts sand, and make a con- 
crete floor about one inch thick. Put a cheap battened 
roof over it to keep the rain and snow out, and you 
have just as good a Silo as any. One 12 feet wide, 30 
feet long, and 12 feet deep, would not cost, besides the 
labor, over fifty dollars, and would hold enough Ensi- 
lage to winter 12 to 15 cows, or about 175,000 pounds, 
or 87a tons. (See cut on opposite page.) This can 
easily be produced upon two acres of suitable land prop- 
erly prepared. 

Two feet in depth daily is fast enough to fill the Silo. 
This rate is better than to fill faster ; as the Ensilage will 
settle better, and there will be less space lost by settling 
at the top of the Silos. If an accident to cutter or 
power, or if any untoward incident, stops the filling of 
the Silo for one, two, or even three days when it is partly 
full, no injury will be done to the Ensilage, providing 
one or two men (according to size of Silo) are kept 
constantly trampling upon it, so as to keep the Ensilage 
compact. If it begins to dry or heat on top, take a 
garden watering-pot and sprinkle over it to supply the 
loss from evaporation. 

Two small Silos are better than one large one of the 
capacity of both ; for, with two, one will be empty in 
the summer, ready to receive rye, clover, or other green 
forage, which it will be as advantageous to preserve by 
Ensilage as it is the ojreen corn in the fall. 

After the Ensilage is compacted so that it ceases 
to settle, it is ready to feed out. This takes about a 



CAPACITY OF SILOS. 



73 



month At any time after it is compacted, the weights 
can be removed, the plank taken up, the straw raked 
off and more green fodder of any kind put on top of 
that which is in the Silo, thereby utilizing all the space. 
If more fodder be raised than the Silo v/ill hold, the 
walls can be carried up about two feet with plank, and 
filled so that when setded the Ensilage will fill the Silo 
to the top of the masonry walls. 




|J^5!^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^5c 



'////,., yy//////y^''^^^' y^'^'^^/y'/y^y^^^/y ''^^ y ,y 'y,^y/y"/yy/y"y' ,/yyy'y//y/" „^y ' /' / ^ //yy/^' 

Sectional view of SlIo, r. feet wide, 12 feet high, and =4 or 30 feet long; capacity. 80 to 100 tons of Ensilage, 
sufficient to winter fifteen to twenty cows ; cost, exclusive of labor, about $40, where stone are plenty. 
I, I, three-inch by four-inch scantling. ' . 

n, n^ 1 1-inch by 12-inch plank, between which and the rough wall a concrete or grout is poured. 
Ill, lll/dolted line showing the face of the concrete pointing and plastermg. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

ENSILAGE IN THE GREAT DAIRY DISTRICTS. 

The system of Ensilage is especially adapted to the 
great dairy districts of the West. Improved Ensilage 
will enable the dairyman to make as good an article of 
butter in the winter as in summer. By it the number of 
cows can be tripled. It is cheaper to soil cows during 
the summer than to pasture them where land is valuable, 
particularly in the vicinity of cities. Fifty cents per 
week is the average price paid in my section for pastur- 
ing a cow ; for less than this, a cow can be kept upon 
Ensilage, and in better condition than the average pas- 
ture will keep her : besides, by this system, all the 
manure can be saved, which will abundantly pay for all 
the extra labor of caring for the stock, if the labor is 
greater than in pasturing, which I much doubt. 

The system of Ensilage — which I hope to see rapid- 
ly adopted (of the hundreds of farmers who have visited 
" Winning Farm'' nearly all have assured me that they 
shall build Silos this season) — will cause our exports of 
beef and mutton to be immensely increased, while the 
exports of dairy products will be doubled and tripled. 

They are now rapidly increasing, as is shown by the 
following table of receipts and exports of butter alone, 
at New York, for the years 1874 to 1879 : — 



ENSILAGE IN THE GREAT DAIRY DISTRICTS. 



75 



Receipts. 



Exports. 



1874 
1875 
1876 
1877 
1878 
1879 



Packages. 

994,430 
1,080,899 
1,292,577 
1,269,759 
1,277,863 
1,581,825 



Pounds. 

4,695,111 

4,216,548 

10,045,434 
19,686,447 

23,029,732 
36,153,444 



The exports of cheese are fully as important, and of 
so fine a quality that the English and European dairy 
farmers are in despair as to the future. 

By Ensilage, wool can be produced so cheaply and in 
such quantities as to preclude the possibility of importation. 

Ensilage being so rich in carbo-hydrates, it is espe- 
cially adapted to the growth of wool. If, in connection 
with Ensilage, we would feed the cotton-seed raised in 
the South (no better food can be imagined than En- 
silage and cotton-seed meal) , we could not only stop the 
importation of wool, but have wool as well as choice 
mutton in almost unlimited quantities to export (see 
chapter on sheep for weights of lambs) : their mothers 
being fed upon Ensilage, numberless flocks could be 
kept. The old pastures, which have become so worth- 
less by being stocked with cows so long, would, if pas- 
tured with sheep, speedily improve, and soon be restored 
to their original fertility. 

In the rich and fertile West, Ensilage of corn can be 
raised and stored in Silos for one dollar per ton : as two 
tons are equal to one ton of the best hay, this places the 
comparative value of hay at two dollars per ton ; this is less 
than hay can be cured for. Two acres of good meadow 
are required to keep one cow ; while by the system of 
Ensilage — improved by my process — eight cows may 
be kept in high condition upon the same land. 



76 THE BOOK OF ENSILAGE. 

No country is so well adapted by reason of both soil 
and climate as our own for the growth of the corn-plant. 
Now that we know how to utilize this greatest gift of 
Nature, and save all its valuable constituents instead of a 
part only, who is able to correctly estimate the blessings 
which will follow when this knowledge is universally 
diffused and profited by ? 



THE CORN-SONG. 

BY JOHN G. WHITTIER. 



Heap high the farmer's wintry hoard ! heap high the golden com ! 

No richer gift has Autumn poured from out her lavish horn. 

Let other lands exulting glean the apple from the pine, 

The orange from its glossy green, the cluster from the vine. 

We better love the hardy gift our rugged vales bestow. 

To cheer us when the storm shall drift our harvest-fields with snow. 

Through vales of grass and meads of flowers, our ploughs tlieir furrows made, 

While on the hills the sun and showers of changeful April played. 

We dropped the seed o'er hill and plain, beneath the sun of May, 

And frightened from our sprouting grain the robber crows away. 

All through the long bright days of June its leaves grew gi-een and fair. 

And waved in hot midsummer's noon its soft and yellow hair. 

And now with autumn's moonlit eves, its harvest-time has come ; 

We pluck away the frosted leaves, and bear the treasure home. 

There, richer than the fabled gift Apollo showered of old, 

Fair hands the broken grain shall sift, and knead its meal of gold. 

Let vapid idlers loll in silk around their costly board : 

Give us the bowl of samp and milk, by homespun beauty poured ! 

Where'er the wide old kitchen-hearth sends up its smoky curls, 

Who will not thank the kindly earth, and bless our farmer-girls ! 

Then shame on all the proud and vain, whose folly laughs to scorn 

The blessing of our hardy grain, our wealth of golden corn ! 

Let earth withhold her goodly root, let m.ildew blight the rye. 

Give to the worm the orchard's fruit, — the wheat-field to the fly ; 

But let the good old crop adorn the hills our fathers trod : . 

Still let us, for his golden corn, send up our thanks to God ! 



CHAPTER XIV. 

HISTORY OF MAIZE, OR INDIAN CORN. 
By E. Lewis SUtrievant, M.D. 

The corn-plant is only, known as a cultivated plant. 
When Columbus first reached the shores of the West 
Indies in 1492, he found mahiz grown and used by the 
Indians, and also in Yucatan upon its discovery in 1502. 
While Cabeca de Vaca was toiling his intermittent way 
from Florida to the Pacific coast in 1528 to 1536, he 
found maize grown in large fields, and stored in cribs, by 
the natives of those regions. Cortez had previously 
found maize in Mexico, at the period of the invasion, 
and at Cempoalla, in 15 19, had eaten maize made into 
bread-cakes, and on the march to Mexico passed amidst 
flourishing fields of maize. When De Soto invaded 
Florida in 1539, inaes occurred everywhere in large 
fields; and the same year Marco de Vica found maize 
growing in New Mexic'o in fields. In 1540 Vasquez 
de Coronado mentions fields of maize in the valley of 
San Miguel and also in store at Cibola ; and it is also 
mentioned in Castanedo's Relations for the same date. 
Alarcon, in 1540, found it growing in his journey up the 
Colorado River, and Antonio de Espips in 1583 found 
it under cultivation by the Concho Indians of this region. 

77 



78 THE BOOK OF ENSILAGE. 

When Cartier visited Hochelaga, now Montreal, in 1535, 
that town was situated in the midst of extensive corn- 
fields. In 1586 Heriot refers to maize cultivated in 
Virginia, and called by the natives '' pagatour ; " and John 
Smith in 1606 describes the Indian method of culture 
then. Champlain in 1605 found it growing in fields all 
along the New-England coast, and describes the man- 
ner of its culture. Our Puritan fathers found it in 
store upon their first expedition of discovery, and speak 
of the deserted corn-fields, for the time was winter. The 
Five Nations, in 1603, made corn-planting their business 
before the French arrived in Canada. The Iroquois 
raised it in such large quantities that in the invasion 
into the country of the Senecas, in 1687, some 1,200,000 
bushels were destroyed. The Indians of Illinois culti- 
vated corn when the country was first described by Mar- 
quette in 1673, by Allouez in 1676, and Membre in 
1679. In Louisiana they had even invented a hoe for 
its culture. 

This list might be indefinitely extended ; for so uni- 
versal was the use of maize by the aborigines, that its 
mention is to be found in nearly all the early chroniclers, 
and it seems never to have been grown as a luxury 
simply, but rather as a source of supply, and as a staple 
food. In the southern country, it was so largely grown 
that many tribes may be considered as agriculturists, 
rather than as hunters ; in the northern countries it 
shared with the products of the chase the claims of a 
sustenance. Its merits, too, were quickly recognized 
by Europeans, and it soon found introduction to Europe, 
and a wide distribution. It had a strong agency in the 
settlement of this country, as it afforded relief from star- 
vation to the " Conquisitors " in the South, and to plain 
Miles Standish and his contemporaries in the North. 



HISTORY OF MAIZE, OR INDIAN CORN. 79 

The Indian made his conquest the more easy by feeding 
his invaders from the produce of his corn-field, and the 
parched grain supported him again in his defence. 
Among the more imaginative Indians of the South, 
maize became an object of worship, and a means of 
conferring honor: it formed portions for gifts, and in 
one instance was poured upon the ground for the 
trampling of the horses, as an earnest of welcome to 
the Spaniard. Everywhere the grain supplied food, in 
many places was parted into a drink, and the leaves and 
stalks were crushed to secure the juice to be boiled into 
a sirup or sugar, and the stalks were used to form bags 
and other material of wigwam use. It is passing strange 
that the corn-plant does not appear upon the coat of 
arms of any of the States whose early necessities it 
relieved. 

In all the references to corn that we find for North 
America, we find no reference to the amount of crop 
harvested from a given area ; and this seems at first sur- 
prising. We read of manuring and fallowing, of the 
preparation of the ground, of the planting, of the cul- 
ture, and the storing of the crop. We have some few 
accounts of varieties, and frequent mention of the uses 
and modes of preparation. In 1608 the settlers of 
Jamestown were taught the manner of growing it by 
the Indians; and in 1621 Squanto, the good-natured 
Indian friend of the Pilgrims, taught them ; and, strange- 
ly enough, until quite recently there has been but little 
change from the Indian methods ; and throughout New 
England generally the cultivation which sufficed the 
barbarous Indian and the colonist of limited means is 
deemed by many to be proper now, except the plough 
has taken the place of the sharpened bough or the 
shoulder-blad-e of the moose, the hoe has replaced the 



8o THE BOOK OF ENSILAGE. 

clam-shell, the dung-hill is called upon oftener than is 
the sea or the stream for its fish. We now store in 
cribs, rather than in the sacks of our instructors buried 
in the sand ; yet the Southern Indian had cribs, even as 
we have now. 

It is a valuable reflection this, the antiquity of the cul- 
tivation of the corn,' and the little progress in the method 
of its culture which civilization has been enabled to add. 
It is worthy of thought, this paradox, that in this one 
case civilization is instructed by barbarism, instead of 
instructing. Did the Indian attain perfection, or Is it 
ourselves who are satisfied not to progress ? This latter 
question seems the true one : for the Western farmer has 
departed from the Indian ways, and meets a greater suc- 
cess; the progressive farmer here and there In New 
England has left the track beaten for him by custom, 
and finds his gain. Yes, it is a fact, the cultivation by 
the red man was sufficient for him with his resources, 
but is far from satisfactory for us with our resources. It 
is time we should follow in the line of civilization, even 
if we would not be in the van ; and it Is folly for us to 
longer continue in the line traced by barbarians, rather 
than by an educated experience. 

Wausha-kum Farm, South Framingham, Mass. 

\Writtenfor and published originally in " The Massachusetts Floughman."\ 



THE IDLENOT PAPERS. 



CHAPTER XV. 

COST OF PRODUCING MILK ONE CENT A QUART, OF BUTTER 
TEN CENTS PER POUND, AND OF PORK THREE CENTS PER 
POUND, BEEF FOR FOUR CENTS A POUND, AND MUTTON 
FOR NOTHING, IF WOOL IS THIRTY CENTS A POUND. . 

At Winning Farm I have by careful tests demonstrated 
that milk can be produced for one cent a quart, and a 
clear though small profit made. More than twice as, 
much profit can be made by converting the milk into 
butter, even though the butter is sold for ten cents a 
pound, providing the skim-milk is fed to improved 
breeds of swine. For producing pork with skim-milk 
and grass, no breed is equal to the well-bred Berkshire. 
I will as briefly as possible tell how milk can be produced 
for one cent a quart, then show how much more can be 
made by converting the cream of the milk into butter, 
and finally how the greatest amount of pork can be 
raised from the skim-milk. 

To begin with, we will assume that a farmer has a 
good farm of 50 acres, with a comfortable house and a 
barn 36 by 48 feet. This barn will hold not far from 25 



82 THE BOOK OF ENSILAGE. 

tons of hay and the corn-stalks and butts from about 
two acres of corn. It will probably have a lintel for 
cows on one side of the " floor," a granary and harness- 
room, two or three horse-stalls, and hay-mows on the 
other side. Upon such a farm — if it is a good one — 
there can be kept two horses and lo to 15 cows upon 
hay and grain, providing a partial system of soiling is 
adopted to help out the pasturage during July, August, 
and September. 

To carry on this farm, even though the farmer be ever 
so much of a worker, he will have to keep one good 
hired man at least nine months of the year ; the entire 
resources of the whole farm will have to be devoted to 
the subsistence of the 10 or 15 cows ; all the other crops 
— vegetables, fruit, &c. — will not bring in more cash 
than the grain fed to the cows in addition to that raised 
upon the farm will cost. Now, we will assume that each 
of the 15 cows will produce 2,000 quarts of milk, besides 
that used by the farmer's family : this, if sold for three 
cents a quart, gives $60 as the gross income from each 
cow; that makes the total income from the 15 cows, 
$900. This, I think, is as good a showing as our best 
farmers can exhibit. 

Against this income of $900, there must be charged 
the interest and taxes upon the farm, and other expenses 
as follows : — 



6 per cent on $5,000, value of farm 

Repairs on buildings, 2^ per cent on $2,000 . . . . 
Taxes on farm, $40 ; taxes on stock, $10 
Interest on stock and farming tools ..... 
Wages and board of hired man 9 months, at $30 . 
Depreciation on stock and farming tools, value $1,500, 10 per 
cent . . 

Carried forward ......; 



5300 


00 


50 


00 


50 


00 


90 


00 


270 


00 


150 


00 


5gio 


00 



COST OF FARM-PRODUCE. 83 

Brought forward . . . . . . . ^910 00 

Wages of the fanner, besides house-rent, fuel, and produce 

raised on the farm consumed by himself and family . . 400 00 
(This may seem high, but I would like to hire the man and 

his family I am writing about for the same wages and other 

consideration mentioned.) 

Total expense $'^,3'^o 00 

Total income 9°° 0° 

Deficiency I410 00 

In other words, the farmer who owns a 50-acre farm 
worth $5,000, with stock and farming-tools worth $1,500, 
who keeps 15 cows and sells $900 worth of milk from 
them yearly, if he keep a correct account of expenses, 
instead of receiving $400 for the services of himself and 
family, actually works for nothing except house-rent and 
fuel and vegetables, and pays $10 per year for the privi- 
lege of doing so. 

It must be confessed that this is not very encouraging ; 
and it is no wonder that the boys want to leave the farm, 
and the girls declare that " they won't marry a farmer." 

If my figures are incorrect, I hope some enterprising 
and industrious farmer will show hoAv much better his 
actual results are. Let us have all the items of both 
expense and income. 

Now, there is a chance to take a " new departure," 
which will change all this ; and I propose in this and 
subsequent letters to show how it can be done. Under 
the new dispensation, which we will call the " Book of 
Ensilage," Sylvester Idlenot starts with the same 50-acre 
farm, divided into 20 acres arable land, 20 acres pasture, 
and 10 acres in wood, all well fenced, and valued at 
$5,000. Time, March i. He has used plent)' of muck 
and road dust for absorbents, so that he will have two 
cords of good manure for each animal, 32 cords in all. 



84 THE BOOK OF ENSILAGE. 

A few days ago I called on Sylvester, who is a neighbor 
of mine, in whom I have taken a great deal of interest. 
At first I was interested because I saw he was always at 
work. His motto, like his name, was " Idlenot." From 
his dropping the final t when pronouncing his name, I 
think he is of French descent; probably a "Limerick 
Frenchman." Upon further acquaintance I found he 
had rare good sense. I found him studying over his 
farm-account for the year past. From the expression 
upon his countenance I saw he was not satisfied with 
the results. " Good-morning, Sylvester," said I. "Ah ! 
good morning to yoursilf. It's glad I am to see ye, 
■docther: 'tis puzzled intirely I am. Perhaps ye can 
explain the botheration, so that Mary and mesilf can 
see through it." — "I'll try, Sylvester. What is it?" 
I asked. 

"Well, docther, 'tis just this: Me and Mary has been 
married fifteen years this very blessed first day of March. 
When we were married I had saved up $750, and Mary 
had $250, just $1,000 betwixt us. Well, Mary, God 
bless her, she kept right on at work, and she laid up a 
little over $100 a year. I kept right on at work too, 
and laid up me whole wages. (I received $300 a year 
and me board.) I clothed mesilf with what I earned 
doing extras and warrking nights for me master's neigh- 
bors. This made our savings $400 a year. In tin years 
we had saved up, with what we had when we married, 
$5,000, and the interest made it some over $7,000. 
Well, we got tired of working for other people, and 
thought we would have a home of our own : so we 
bought this farm, and the stock and the tools and all the 
fixings were all paid for. We had. a few hundred dollars 
left. 

" Well, now, I have just been figuring up the last year, 



COST OF FARM-PRODUCE. 85 

and it stands this away : We have sold milk amounting- 
to- $900. The fruit and vegetables and chickens and 
eggs have come to just enough to balance the mate, the 
grocery, and the grain bill. As the incomes and the out- 
goes are of a bigness we'll let them go together, and say 
no more about them. When I had got this far without 
stopping to think, I said, ' Mary, the milk-money is all 
clear gain ; ' Mary says to me, ' I don't see it : where is 
the money? ' I began to think again ; says I, " there is 
the $7,000 in the farm. The year before we bought it 
we got $420 inthrust, that we would have had if we had 
had no farm, so that is no profit belonging to the farm ; 
take that from the $900, and there is only $480 left. 
Thin there was the wagis of one hired man, $15 a month 
and board worth $10 a month, that for nine months is 
$225, that laves only $255; thin there is the taxes, $60, 
the insurance, $10, thin the depraciation in the stock 
and farming-tools, tin percent on $1,500, — $150; thin 
the repairs on the buildings, 2^ percent on $2,000, — 
$50, making $270. Taking that out of $255, all that 
was left of the milk money, and I find mesilf in debt to 
mesilf $15, and nary a cint of wagis for Mary or mesilf. 
' Mary,' says I, ' we have been working hard as iver we 
could work the whole year for our board, and have paid 
$15 for the privilege, and clothed oursilves. All the 
year we have been working hard arning our own in- 
thrust money, and giving $15 for the right to do it.' Now, 
docther, what I wants to know is this : ain't there no way 
for a farmer to do, 'cepting to work for nothing and 
clothe himself?" I was very much amused while Syl- 
vester was explaining his figures, and wondered how 
many farmers there are who have kept as accurate an 
account as he has, and could tell whether they were 
making anything or were really working for nothing. 



86 THE BOOK OF ENSILAGE. 

I finally said, " Sylvester, I will tell you how to manage 
your farm and stock so as to receive good wages for 
yourself and also for Mary, and something as a profit. 
How much ready money have you saved up now ? " — 
"Well," says he, "we have a bit over $2,000; we have 
each year saved up just about what the interest would 
be, and worked for our board ever since we bought the 
farm, bad luck ! but it's a good farm too." 

"Well, Sylvester, in the first place, you must buy 
fifty cords of good manure, that will cost you at the rail- 
road-station $6.50 per cord, — $325; that will give you 
82 cords of manure. Spread that as you haul it broad- 
cast upon 15 acres, that will be about 55- cords to the 
acre. After you have got it well spread, come up to my 
place, and get my Thomas smoothing-harrow, and give 
it two good harrowings, one each way. The 15 acres 
will take your ten-acre meadow and the five-acre field 
where you had potatoes and other vegetables last year : 
the other five acres, which is the apple-orchard, you can 
cut the hay early, and then use it as a hog-pasture. 

" Now, immediately after harrowing the five-acre field, 
sow it to spring rye to be fed out green in May. You 
have now a lintel on one side of your barn which will 
hold 16 cows ; you want to make one on the other side 
36 feet long, that will accommodate 12 cows; the other 
1 2 feet will allow for two horse-stalls and a pair of stairs 
to go up to the granary, which you must move up stairs ; 
this gives you room in your barn for 28 cows and two 
horses. All the planting you want to do this year is one- 
half acre of potatoes and a good big kitchen-garden." 
" Never you mind telling me that," broke in Sylvester. 
'' Go on, docther : I'm listening wid both ears, and so is 
Mary." 

" Now, after you have your manure all out and spread, 



COST OF FARM-PRODUCE. 87 

the rye sowed, the garden made, and the potatoes plant- 
ed, you dig a hole into that bank east of your barn, 30 
feet wide, and 45 feet long, and about four feet lower than 
the sills to your barn ; wall it up all round, then plaster 
the walls with concrete, run a wall through the centre, 
cut off the corners, and carry these concrete walls up 
above the top of the earth until they are 16 feet high on 
the inside ; then get a carpenter to put a light roof over 
them to keep the rain and snow out, and you have two 
Silos which will hold 400 tons of Ensilage, two tons of 
which is worth more than one ton of timothy hay. You 
will have to hire some help to build these Silos ; and it 
will take about 125 barrels of cement, besides the labor 
of yourself and hired hand : you will have to pay out in 
building them about $300. Early in May, as soon as 
your spring rye is eighteen inches high, commence to cut 
it, and feed it to your cows in the barn ; the last week in 
May cut the grass in the ten-acre lot ; as soon as you 
have got the hay off of it, turn it over, roll it, take my 
Nishwitz harrow, and harrow it both ways, then plough 
the rye-field, turning under the stubble and the green 
second growth. Rye, if cut before heading, grows a 
second crop. After harrowing that, the same as the sod- 
land (and, Sylvester, let me right here repeat the old 
Pennsylvania Dutchman's advice to his son about pre- 
paring corn-land : ' Shon ! you shust drag and drag and 
drag until you have him shust right, and den you shust 
drag him vonce more, and he vill do pretty veil ') , I will 
let you take my Albany corn-planter, and with one horse 
you can plant the whole 15 acres in three days, at the 
same time distributing about 100 pounds of Stockbridge 
corn-manure or some good reliable superphosphate in 
the drills. I use an equal amount of plaster mixed with 
-the fertilizer. Make the drills about three and a half 



88 THE BOOK OF ENSILAGE. 

feet apart, using from one-half to one bushel of seed- 
corn to the acre, according to the size it grows. I have 
a variety, — the Mammoth Ensilage, — which takes 
only one-half bushel to the acre : the drills want to 
be four feet apart. It will yield on good corn-land, 
well vtanured, 40 to 75 tons of green-corn-fodder to 
the acre : I guess I can furnish you with seed if you want 
me to. As soon as the corn begins to prick through 
the ground, you must harrow it all over with the 
Thomas smoothing-harrow, and follow it up every week 
or ten days until the corn is a foot high : each harrowing 
will take one day. When it is about waist high, you 
want to go through it once with Hussey's Centennial 
Irnproved cultivator and horse-hoe ; after that the corn 
will shade the ground so much that there will be no 
more weeds ; when this is done, until your corn is ready 
to cut, you and your man can change work with your 
neighbors, helping them in their haying, they to pay 
you back when you save your corn-fodder : having noth- 
ing but the garden to attend to, you will have plenty of 
time to pay in work for all the help you will need then. 
About the ist of September your corn will be in full 
tassel, which is the time to cut it. You will have to buy 
you a cutter, which will cost about ^100. You will have 
to hire a small engine, — three to five horse-power will 
do, — and a boy who understands how to run it : this will 
cost about ^25 to $40. It will take eight men besides 
yourself to cut the corn-fodder and pack it in the Silos 
to advantage. It will take about ten days to fill the two 
Silos. I think you will have enough on your 15 acres to 
fill them, and have several tons which you will have 
to shock and cure by drying. When the Silos are filled, 
you want to put six inches of rye-straw on top of the 
Ensilage, then lay down on the straw a floor of one and 



COST OF FARM-PRODUCE. 89 

one-fourth inch spruce plank : on top of this floor put a 
layer of cobble-stones about a foot deep. As soon as 
you have done this, plough your corn-land, and sow with 
winter rye. Sow two bushels to the acre. I will loan 
you my Cahoon Broadcast seed-sower to sow the rye : 
with it you can sow the 15 acres in one day, and do it 
far better than by hand. Harrow it in with the smooth- 
ing-harrow, then roll. In the spring, harrow the rye as 
soon as it begins to grow, and follow it up once a week 
until it is eight or ten inches high. This harrowing 
loosens the ground, kills the weeds, and causes the rye 
to tiller more, thereby increasing the crop from 20 to 
50 per cent." 



CHAPTER XVI. 

SECOND IDLENOT PAPER. 

About two months after my last Interview with Sylves- 
ter Idlenot, when I advised him to try Ensilage, I saw 
him coming up the walk to my house, evidently in a 
botheration. As he opened the office-door I said, 
" Good-morning, Sylvester. Take a chair. How are 
Mary and the boys ? " 

" All well, God bless 'em, I thank ye ; but it's in 
throuble I am intirely ! " 

" What is the matter, Sylvester ? " I asked anxiously. 

"Well, docther, 'tis just this. You know, last March 
ye happened into my house just as I was figuring up the 
account for the year, and we had made nothing but 
shelter and our vittles. Shure, we always had a roof over 
our heads, and plenty to ate, and comfortable clothes on 
our backs, and laid up three and four hundred dollars each 
year, and niver touched the bit of inthrust money our 
savings was arning. After we bought the farm, and 
since then, divil a cint have we laid up more'n the in- 
thrust would have been. Well, you, docther, told me 
what to do, and I'm a-doin' it; and now we're ruined 
intirely ! " 

This sounded rather ominous ; and I said, with more 
90 



PRICE OF MILK. 9 1 

anxiety than curiosity this time, " Sylvester, what is the 
matter ? " 

" Docther, I've been following your directions, for I 
thought it was sinsible ; and besides, I'd seen how well 
your own stock looked that was fed on the insilage ; and 
ses I to Mary, it's thrying it we'll be after doing. So I 
bought the manure, and I spread it broadcast on the tin- 
acre field and five-acre lot : the grass 'tis just growing 
splendid ! We sowed the five acres to rye, and up to 
me shoulder it is, and so thick ye can hardly make your 
way through it. We are feeding it to the cows, and 
have been for a while or two." 

" Well, don't they do well, and give a good mess of 
milk ? " I asked, interrupting him. 

" Niver better, but that ain't the throuble," said he. 

"Well, what is it? Tell me, what is the matter, Syl- 
vester?" I asked. 

" I'm coming to it, docther, directly. I'll tell ye im- 
mejitly. I was at warrk on me siloos. I've got 'em 
more'n half done already. Day before yesterday, whin 
I looked up, there right forninst me stood the con- 
thractor ! ' So you are going to thry the docther's new- 
fangled feed, are ye, Sylvester ? ' — ' Yes, indade I am,' I 
said : ' it is tired I am making milk, and selling it to the 
likes of ye for less than it costs to make it.' 

"'I read all about it in the noosepapers,' said he: 
*ye's going to make it for a cint a quart. It's foine 
business ye'll have making milk for a cint a quart and 
selling it for three ; ' and he wunk a knowing kind of a 
wink as he got on to his wagin, and druv away. Ses I 
to myself, Fhat the divil is that conthractor winking like 
that to me for ? and thin I thought about the noosepa- 
pers telling all about the siloo and the insilage, and at 
the head of the whole story was, ' How to projuce milk 



92 THE BOOK OF ENSILAGE. 

for one cint a quart ; ' and it sthruck me all of a suddint. 
Ah, docther, ye's guv us away wid your noosepapers, 
and ruined the whole business, bad luck to it ! I niver 
did belave in book- farming, anyhow ! " 

Sylvester wiped the perspiration from his brow, and 
looked the personification of disgust. ** Why, Sylves- 
ter," I said, " how can that be ? What harm can there be 
in writing down our conversation and the advice I gave 
you, and printing it so that others may profit with us in 
the advantages which the new system of Ensilage gives ? 
Surely you are not so selfish that you do not want other 
farmers to share with us the good times which the gen- 
eral adoption of the new system will bring about ? " 

" No, no, docther : it isn't the farmers that I want to 
kape in the darkness and throuble they are now in, by 
any manes ; but the milk conthractors — may the divil 
fly away wid every mother's son of them ! As soon as 
they foind out we can make a quart of milk for a cint, 
not a farden more thin a cint will they pay us for our 
milk. And that's what's the trouble altogether ! Fhat's 
the use of all your exparimints? The conthractor — 
bad luck to the likes of 'im — will get the oisther and 
lave us the shells like he does now. Shure thim's the 
b'ys f hat makes their foine living by the sweat of ither 
men's brows ! " 

I laughed at this, and proceeded to finish the advice 
I gave Sylvester last March. " Sylvester," I said, " you 
are keeping your cows now on rye. All right : continue 
to feed the rye to them until the first of June, then turn 
them into the pasture. By that time there will be plenty 
of feed which will carry them till fall, with the help of a 
little grain. In fact, keep them as you would if you 
were not trying the Ensilage systeni. Finish your Silos. 
When you have them filled with the corn Ensilage, put 



NO CHANGE REQUIRED. 93 

a lintel on the other side of the barn, and in about a 
month buy thirteen more cows, and keep them in the 
barn, turning them out every day an hour or two m 
the yard to exercise. Feed the Ensilage to them twice 
a day, about a bushel (25 or 30 pounds) to a feed. The 
two Silos will hold about four hundred tons ; that, with 
the rye Ensilage, will be sufficient to keep fifty cows the 
year through, if you give to each cow, in addition to the 
Ensilage, about four pounds of bran or cotton-seed meal 
daily while she is in milk." 

" But, docther, won't the cows and sheep get tired of 
the insilage, and need a change sometimes ? " asked Syl- 
vester. 

" I don't see that there will be any need of a change," 
I replied ; " I have fed cattle upon it exclusively for sev- 
eral months, and they like it better and eat it with 
greater avidity than ever. It is almost the same as fresh 
pasture grass when bran or cotton- seed meal is fed with 
it, and is certainly as good as fresh pasture, as the 
cattle can eat their fill without labor. When there is 
plenty of food in the pastures, no one dreams of offer- 
ing a change to stock. You will have but 28 cows, and 
that is all I advise you to keep ; but, as you have the 
feed for 22 more, you'" must build a shed on the south 
side of the Silo, 24 feet wide and 47 feet long ; fence in 
a yard of about one-quarter of an acre of that high, dry 
ridge east and south of your Silos, and buy 100 breeding- 
ewes, common merinos, such as Thought last fall, only 
you need not bother about their breeding. If they are 
grades they will answer just as well. 

" As I am advising you what to do, I will let you take 
two of my Cotswold bucks to put with them. If they 
turn out well, you can pay me for the use of them what 
you think is right. Now you will want to buy six good 



94 THE BOOK OF ENSILAGE. ' 

brood- SOWS (any large breed), and a pure Berkshire 
boar to use on them. You can keep the 28 cows, the 
100 sheep, and the seven hogs on the Ensilage which you 
will raise on the 1 5 acres. If the contractor tries to beat 
down the price of milk, you can make butter, and have 
the skimmed milk to feed to the pigs. If your cows 
each give 2,000 quarts of milk per year, you can make 
200 pounds at least of butter. The skim-milk, the run 
of the five-acre orchard (you must ring the hogs when 
you turn them out to pasture), and Ensilage in the win- 
ter, will make you at least 500 pounds of pork to each 
cow. This will give you ^20 for butter, if you have to sell 
it at ten cents per pound. 500 pounds pork at three 
cents per pound is $15. You will also raise a fine calf 
worth at least $10 when a year old. This gives you for 
each cow $45, or $1,260 for the 28 head. Your 100 
sheep will shear you seven pounds of wool on an average 
(my merinos average between nine and ten pounds), 
worth unwashed at least 30 cents per pound, $2.10 ahead, 
or $210 on the whole flock. Then you will raise, by the 
use of Cotswold bucks, 90 lambs or more, which will be 
worth when four months old, at least $4 per head ; this 
is $360 more. Now let us see : your income will be as 
follows : — 



For butter, 5,600 pounds, at 10 cents 

For pork, 14,000 pounds, at 3 cents 

28 yearlings, at |io apiece . 

700 pounds wool at 30 cents 

90 lambs (Cotswold merinos) at $\ 



Total 



$560 00 
420 00 
280 00 
210 00 
360 00 

$1,830 00 



" You must in the future, as in the past, make the 
sales of fruit, eggs, poultry, and" vegetables pay the 
butcher's and grocer's bills, so that there will be to 



PROFITS OF ENSILAGE. 



95 



come out of the ^1,830 the following items of ex- 
pense : — 



Interest on farm, value . . . . . 
Interest on stock and depreciation on farming- 
tools, value 

Interest on 13 additional cows, value 
Interest on 100 sheep, " 

Interest on stock of manure bought, " 
Interest on Silos, cash paid out, " 

Interest on sheep-shed, " 



55,000 00 

1,500 00 
520 00 
400 00 
325 00 
300 00 
150 00 

$8,195 00 



150 00 



> III 70 



Total investment 

Wages and board of one hired man six months, at ^25 . . 150 00 

Repairs on buildings and fences 50 oq 

Taxes and insurance . . , . . . . . 80 00 

Bran and cotton-seed meal, four pounds daily to each cow when 

in milk .......... 280 00 

Grain for sheep and horses 150 00 



Total expense 



$1,271 70 



" This leaves for you and Mary ^558.30." 
" Fhat ! $558 and 30 cints ! besides inthrust and all 
expinses is it ? " asked Sylvester, who had been watching 
me closely, " and no thanks to the conthractor ; wid but- 
ther at tinxints a pound, and pork at three cints a pound, 
wool at 30 cints a pound, and Cotswold Merriny lambs 
at ^4 apiece ! Shure, that is too low for the lambs any- 
way. Your lambs, docther, of the same kind, weighed 
over 100 pounds apiece whin only five months old ; for, 
d'ye moind, I helped ye to weigh them meself." 

" That's so," I replied: " they will be worth from $5 to 
$7 each ; so will the butter be worth more than ten cents 
a pound, and the pork be worth more than three cents a 
pound. I have put the prices low, in order to show you 
what can be done by the system of Ensilage. Now, Syl- 
vester, you and Mary take hold of this as you do of 



96 THE BOOK OF ENSILAGE. 

every thing you undertake ; and, my word for it, you 
will think you have found the real ' philosopher's stone.' 
After you have tried it one year, show me your account. 
If it is not better than last year, I'll pay the difference 
out of my own pocket." 

" Ye'll not be called upon to do that, docther," said 
Sylvester ; " and ye can depind upon Mary and me and 
the b'ys to thry." 



CHAPTER XVIL 



ANALYSIS OF ENSILAGE FROM THE " WINNING- FARM SILOS. 

By C. A. Goess77iann, Ph.D., 

Professor of Chemistry, Chemist to the Massachusetts State Board of Agriculture 
and State Inspector of Commercial Fertilizers. 

The sample of Silo corn (Ensilage) consists of : — 

PER CENT. 

Moisture at 2i2°-2 20° Falirenheit . . . 80.70 
Dry matter left ...... 19-30 



This dry matter consists of:- 

Crude cellulose 
Fat ether abstract . 
Albuminoids . . . . 
Non-nitrogenous extract matter 
Ash (\vith traces of sand) 



PARTS. 

6.43 

0.62 

1.56 
8.92 

1.77 



19.30 



Also an average analysis of the corn-plant in the 
milk : — 

PER CENT. 

Moisture at 2i2°-220° Falirenheit . . . 85.04 
Dry matter . . . . . . . 14.96 



100.00 

97 



98 THE BOOK OF ENSILAGE, 

PARTS. 

Ash . . 0.82 

Albuminoids ....... 0.86 

Fat 0.26 

Crude cellulose . . . ... . 4.53 

Non-nitrogenous extractive matter . . . 8.49 

By comparing the two tables It will be seen that the 
Ensilage contains over 29 per cent more dry matter than 
the whole plant in the milk; over 41 per cent more of 
crude cellulose ; over 138 per cent more of fat ; over 81 
percent more albuminoids ; over 5 per cent more of non- 
nitrogenous extract matter; over 115 per cent more ash 
(or mineral constituents). 

It will also be seen that the nutritive ratio of the 
Ensilage is one part of albuminoids to 61V parts of non- 
D'trogenous extractive matter (digestible carbo-hydrates). 
This makes its nutritive ratio a little better than timothy 
hay, which is, according to Dr. Wolff, i to 81V, but not 
quite as good as average clover hay, which is i to 5 iV 
By this analysis Ensilage would seem to be much nearer 
a perfect food than I have supposed. If the results of 
careful experiments in feeding coincide with the above 
analysis, the system of Ensilage is far more perfect and 
important than I have even hoped. 

I shall institute a series of experiments to test this 
point ; for, however satisfactory a chemical analysis may 
be, the real touchstone is the feeding value demon- 
strated by careful and repeated experiments. 

What farmers want to know is not what an article of 
food is worth chemically, but how much it is worth to 
feed to their stock. 

My experiments thus far satisfy me that the value of 
corn-fodder is doubled by the softening and fernientive 
process which it undergoes in the Silos ; that two tons of 



ANALYSIS OF ENSILAGE. 



99 



it are worth more to feed than four tons of corn-fodder 
fresh from the fields, or one ton of best timothy hay. 

I received the above analysis the last of April, and at 
once resolved to test it by experimentation. April 29 I 
selected two thoroughbred two-year-old Jersey bulls, 
and weighed them. " Rossmore " weighed 960 pounds, 
" Hero " weighed 890 pounds. " Rossmore " was fed 
40 pounds of Ensilage daily, and nothing else. " Hero " 
was fed 40 pounds of Ensilage and three pounds of 
wheat-bran daily, and notJiing more. June 2 I weighed 
them again, and found that "Rossmore" weighed 960 
pounds, having neither gained nor lost ; showing, so far 
as one experiment could, that 40 pounds of Ensilage 
containing over 80 per cent of water was sufficient to 
sustain in a healthy condition the functions of the 
animal system, and replace the waste tissue. His hair 
was smooth, he appeared to be satisfied, and Sylvester 
thought he was gaining. " Hero" at this time weighed 
943 pounds, being a gain of 53 pounds in 34 days, or 
i-55iT pounds daily: as it took the 40 pounds of Ensi- 
lage to sustain the animal, it follows, that 102 pounds of 
wheat-bran, fed with the Ensilage, produced 53 pounds 
of beef (live weight) . 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

HOW TO PRESERVE GREEN CORN FOR THE TABLE. 

During my visit at " Linden Grove," the home of T. 
S. Cooper, the well-known importer of choice, high-class 
Berkshires and Oxfordshire-down sheep (see portrait of 
Freeland), upon my describing Ensilage to Mr. and 
Mrs. Cooper one evening, I was surprised and pleased 
to learn from Mrs. Cooper that she had been Ensilaging 
green corn for a long time for her table. I asked her to 
tell me how she prepared it, and she replied as follows : 
"I take fresh ears of green sweet corn, cut the corn 
from the cobs, pack it down solidly in a large stone jar, 
cover it on the top with about two inches of salt, put a 
follower on the salt, and weight it. Whenever I wish to 
prepare some for the table, I soak it until fresh, or 
change the water in which I boil it as often as necessary. 
When It is cooked, I drain the water from it by letting it 
stand In a colander a few minutes, then season to suit ; 
or, after it Is nearly done, the water may be drained off, 
and nice rich milk added, in which let it simmer until 
ready to serve." 



CHAPTER XIX. 

MY EXPERIENCE WITH SUGAR-BEETS. COST OF RAISING ONE- 

FOURTPI OF AN ACRE, AND THE YIELD. 

DEBIT. 

Seed 5?i 50 

12 bushels wood-ashes i 80 

100 pounds salt 50 

2 J cords manure at $6 per cord 15 00 

Ploughing twice 2 00 

Cultivating and harrowing I 00 

Raking the ground half a day 50 

Planting one-fourth day 25 

Weeding and thinning, 4 days 4 00 

Harvesting, 2 days . 2 00 



Total 



55 



CREDIT. 



252 bushels at 60 lbs. to the bushel, 15,120 lbs. at $4 per ton . . ^^30 24 
One-half the value of the manure, salt, and ashes left in the ground 8 65 

Total fc8 89 

Cost 28 55 

Profit $10 34 

The piece of land was broken up a year ago last spring, planted that 
season with potatoes and beans, manured lightly in the hill. The beetles 
ate the potato-vines all up, so that potatoes there were none : the beans 
bore a very light crop. Before it was broken up, the land produced 
perhaps half a ton of hay to the acre of fine June grass. This was the 
first time I ever raised sugar-beets, and the result so well satisfied me 
that if there were a beet-sugar factory near me I would raise five to 
ten acres next year. The profit on an acre would be ^41.36, which is 

lOI 



I02 THE BOOK OF ENSILAGE. 

more than any thing else has yielded, except land cultivated by our 
market-gardeners. 

I have no fears but what, by applying \\ cords of manure to the same 
piece, I could raise ten to twelve tons another time, for I learned some- 
thing last season. I had them too thiclc : the rows were twenty-eight 
inches apart, and as my men hated to pull up nice plants they left them 
too close together. Next year I shall plant the rows three feet apart, 
and thin to twelve inches. I shall not try this piece with i^ cords of 
manure, however: I shall put on at least three cords. I raised 225 
bushels of long red mangels on one-eighth of an acre, right alongside of 
the sugar-beets, and on another eighth of an acre side of them 160 
bushels of yellow globe mangels. All these pieces were manured alike 
and cultivated the same. 

Now, I want to inquire whether I had better spread about 200 loads 
of manure on the land I intend to break up next spring, as I get it out 
next week ; or put it in a pile, and spread it in the spring after plough- 
ing, the ground being frozen. I cleaned my barn-cellar out in October. 
The cellar is cemented on the bottom, and the walls pointed with cement. 
I have made this manure since then. I have thirty-two head of cattle, 
four horses in the barn and twenty-nine head of swine in the cellar. 

I had no idea how much manure I was losing until I cemented the 
cellar bottom. I have been constantly throwing in dry loam and muck 
at the rate of one to two loads per day, besides bedding my cattle with 
sand and the horses with meadow-hay ; and now, since the urine of all 
the animals is saved, the pig-pens which extend under all the stalls and 
lintels are so wet and soft that the hogs are unable to get from one end 
to the other. 

I feed one hundred pounds of cotton-seed iTieal, sixty pounds of corn 
meal, iifty pounds of shorts, and twenty-four quarts of oats daily, besides 
the food of the swine. I believe that dry muck or loam thoroughly sat- 
urated with urine from animals fed as above, and worked up into a per- 
fect mush, is as good to grow crops as the same bulk of sohd excrement. 
Am I right? I should like to know whether I had better spread my 
manure on the ground, or pile it. 

Yours respectfully, 

John M. Bailey. 

Winning Fakji, Nov. i, 1878. 



From this experiment I am satisfied that sugar-beets 
can be raised at a profit. The sugar-factories are now 



SUGAR-BEETS. lO^ 

paying five dollars per ton, which would make the profit 
on my quarter of an acre ^17.90, or at the rate of $71.60 
per acre ; but, in order to realize the greatest profit, the 
pulp should be returned to the farm, and fed out to the 
stock thereon. By the system of preserving cattle-food 
in Silos, this can be done most economically. A small 
Silo ten feet wide, twenty feet long, and ten feet deep, 
will hold about sixty tons of pulp. By covering it with 
a little straw, and upon that a flooring of plank, with 
weights upon it, the same as in the Silos of corn Ensi- 
lage, it may be kept for a long time. The beet-pulp, 
containing as it does all the nutrition except a part of 
the sugar, would be an excellent food to feed with the 
corn Ensilage. It is also a very good article of food for 
swine by itself.^ 

In regard to the manure, I have demonstrated by 
several careful experiments since the above was written, 
that the best time and way to apply manure is when you 
have time, and with a broadcast manure-spreader. 

1 I have learned, since writing the above, that the best way to raise sugar-beets 
is to have the rows eighteen inches apart, and to thin to nine inches. 



CHAPTER XX. 

SUMMARY. 

To sum up, I will say that large Silos 40 to 50 feet 
long, 15 to 18 feet wide, and 16 to 24 feet deep, are the 
cheapest : they will not cost more than one dollar for 
each ton's capacity. As two tons of Ensilage are worth 
more than one ton of English or timothy hay, the com- 
parative economy of Ensilage is at once manifest. They 
require no repairs, and if properly built will last for ages. 

The cost, therefore, of storage-room for Ensilage is 
about six cents per ton yearly. In order to store its 
equivalent of hay as cheaply, a barn to store a hundred 
tons of hay would have to be built for two hundred dollars. 
My plans of building Silos are cheaper than to dig pits 
in the ground. The small pits which are used in France, 
and described by Charles L. Flint, Secretary State Board 
of Agriculture, in his last report, would cost much more 
to construct, the labor of filling and weighting them be 
much greater. 

Since the publication of the last State Agricultural Re- 
port, I have had the pleasure of showing my system of 
Ensilage to Secretary Flint. After critically examining 
the Silos, the Ensilage, and the stock fed upon it, he de- 
clared " that the system of Ensilage would work a per- 
fect revolution in agricultural methods in this country." 
The system of Ensilage reduces the comparative value 



ENSILAGE VS. HAY. IO5 

of good timothy hay to four dollars per ton, and of 
hay-barns to two dollars for each ton's capacity. The 
labor of feeding is lessened very materially ; the health, 
condition, and appearance of the stock is immeasurably 
improved. In short, it will bring about, upon its general 
introduction and adoption, an agricultural millennium — 
almost. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

EFFECT OF ALCOHOLIC FERMENTATION IN ENSILAGE UrON 
" GILT-EDGED BUTTER." 

The following letter was received from a gentleman 
with whom I have had considerable correspondence 
upon the subject of " Ensilage." 

SoDus, Wayne County, N.Y., April i6, iSSo. 
Mr. John M. Bailey. 

Dear Sir, — Yesterday I received a visit from Professor L. B. Arnold, 
the dairy-writer. The subject of " Ensilage " came up, and its effect on 
'^gilt-edged butter,'' &c. He is very strong of the opinion that the 
alcoholic fermentation that is begun will injure the fine flavor and text- 
ure that is desirable in my trade, I am very anxious to read your book 
so as to clear up these points ; and, if there is any thing further that you 
can say on the subject, I would be very glad to hear from you. 

I haven't got that copy of the paper with your article, " How to pro- 
duce milk for one cent a quart, butter for ten cents a pound, beef for 
four cents a pound, and pork for three cents a pound," yet. 

Respectfully, 

A. J. Rice. 

P. S. Just received and read it. 

As Professor Arnold is so great an authority, as he is 
supposed to know every thing concerning dairy matters, 
it will doubtless be deemed presumptuous in me to say, 
and attempt to prove, that the learned professor is mis- 
taken. Let us consider through what organs, changes, 

io6 



ALCOHOL ON BUTTER. IO7 

and circumstances the small amount of alcohol (which is 
found in the Ensilage) passes before it can reach the 
butter. 

In the first place, the alcohol is only an i7icide7it to the 
great change which has been taking place in the Ensi- 
lao-ed forage. This change, which is so important and so 
useful, is the conversion of the starch contained in the 
plants into sugar. The formation of alcohol is only a 
nutritive barometer which tells us that sugar has been 
formed. The odor of alcohol is hardly perceptible until 
after the Ensilage has been exposed to the action of the 
oxygen of the atmosphere twelve to twenty-four hours. 

Therefore, if the professor is correct, it is in the power 
of the dairyman to prevent the formation of alcohol by 
feeding direct from the Silo without allowing the alco- 
holic fermentation to take place. Thus, if an evil, it is 
easily avoided. 

In the second place, the small amount of alcohol pres- 
ent in the Ensilage (I have never seen any of my cows 
intoxicated) is mixed with the saliva during the process 
of mastication, and passes with the Ensilage into the 
first stomach, or paunch, thence into the second stomach. 
It is then re-masticated by chewing the cud, and passes 
into the third stomach, thence into the fourth stomach, 
where it is digested. 

When cows are fed upon Ensilage, I have noticed 
that their breath is particularly sweet, as if fed upon the 
sweetest grasses. From the stomach it passes into the 
intestines, from which that part of their contents neces- 
sary for the nourishment of the animal economy is taken 
up by two sets of vessels ; first, the blood-vessels of the 
intestines, and passes through the portal vein to the 
liver. There the portal vein is divided and subdivided 
into an infinity of minute branches as they reach the lit- 



Io8 THE BOOK OF ENSILAGE. 

tie glandular lobules which compose the liver. Here 
they break up into a plexus of microscopic vessels as 
fine as those which originally absorbed from the intestines 
the nutritive matter with which they are filled. These 
minute vessels fill the entire substance of the liver with 
a vascular net-work. Then these little vessels collect 
together again, and unite into larger ones, until at last 
they leave the liver as the hepatic vein, which conveys 
the nutritive matter called chyle. Chyle is also absorbed 
by the lacteal vessels, and conveyed by the thoracic duct 
to the sub-clavian vein, and by both sets of vessels is 
conveyed into and finally mingled with the venous blood 
returning to the heart. By the contraction of the right 
auricle it is forced into the right ventricle, which in turn 
contracts, and forces the blood into the pulmonary artery, 
which conveys the blood, chyle, and — alcohol ? — to 
the lungs. There this artery divides into numberless 
branches which penetrate and encircle all the minute 
spaces between and about the air-vesicles. Here the 
blood is subjected to the action of the air which is in- 
haled by the lungs. Now, alcohol is very volatile ; and if 
any of the alcohol has got thus far with the blood on its 
way to the milk, there can be no doubt that it would all 
be thrown off with the expiration of the breath. 

But, having followed it thus far, let us go clear 
through to the churn, whether the alcohol keeps up with 
us or not. 

From the lungs the blood is returned to the heart, 
which by the contraction of the left ventricle forces it all 
through the system. A large amount of blood is carried 
to the milk-glands. The milk-glands' office is to secrete 
milk. They secrete nothing else which is in the blood 
excepting those elements which constitute milk, — pro- 
viding the animal is in a healthy condition. 



ALCOHOL ON BUTTER. I09 

But we will suppose, for the sake of the argument, that 
the alcohol is secreted by the milk-glands, and is drawn 
from the udder mingled with the milk. A portion of it 
rises with the cream, and is churned. Of course a large 
portion of this alcohol, which has got thus far, must 
remain in the buttermilk: the remainder must be so 
infinitesimally small that it could have no perceptible 
effect upon the butter. 

It is evident that the professor means, when he says 
that the " fine flavor and texture " will be injured by the 
alcohol, that this injury is accomplished by the bodily 
presence of alcohol in such a quantity as to destroy the 
integrity of the butter globules ; in other words, to 
" cut" the butter as oil is " cut" when it is shaken in a 
bottle with strong alcohol. 

Now, this alcohol, which goes all the way through the 
various organs of the cow until it is found in the butter, 
— be the amount greater or smaller, — certainly cannot 
be very high ''proof;'' and dilute alcohol has no power 
to disintegrate butter, for you cannot "cut" ever so 
small an amount of any kind of oil with alcohol the 
strength of which, at once small, grows beautifully less 
by being subjected to unlimited dilution every time the 
cow drinks, and to evaporation every time she breathes. 

There are millions of excretory ducts, organs, and 
glands, in the animal organism, whose office it is to 
remove from the system the waste tissue and such use- 
less substances (alcohol for instance) from the system 
as may have been taken up by the absorbents. Does 
Professor Arnold expect he can run alcohol through a 
cow with these millions of leaks for it to escape by, and 
catch it in the milk-pail strong enough to disintegrate 
butter ? 

But the milk-glands are not excretory, but secretory 



no THE BOOK OF ENSILAGE. 

organs, whose office It is to secrete milk, not to remove 
useless matters from the organism. Even if an infinitely 
small amount of alcohol could get into the milk (which is 
absurd), and if it had the power to disintegrate or " cut" 
(in a measure) butter (which it would not), I fail to see 
how it could injure the flavor (and every thing but the 
pure alcohol would be there anyway). Why, alcohol is 
the vehicle in which the most delicate flavors are pre- 
served, while the sweetest odors of the roses of June are 
saved by incorporating them into alcohol. 

I think I have demonstrated, first, that if the pure 
alcohol gets into the milk it could do no harm to the 
flavor of the butter ; second, that it would be infinitely 
diluted, so as to be powerless to afl"ect the texture ; 
third, that the amount would be infinitesimally small, 
that it could not be detected ; and, fourth, that none 
could get there at all. 

Now^ my friend Rice, let us prove this thing by actual 
experiment. Give to each of your cows daily a table- 
spoonful of alcohol (which is more than there is in a 
cow's daily ration of Ensilage) ; sprinkle it upon their 
food ; examine the butter critically which is made while 
the alcohol is being administered : if it is Injured In 
flavor or texture In the least, the professor Is right, 
and I am wrong ; if, on the other hand, It Is uninjured, 
why, for once he is mistaken. 



CHAPTER XXII. 

MODEL DAIRY STABLE ADAPTED TO THE SYSTEM OF ENSILAGE. 

Fig. No. i (see next page) shows the ground-plan 
of a dairy estabHshment 76 feet wide, 127 feet long, 
capable of accommodating 118 cows, the necessary young 
cattle if dairy stock is to be raised, or, if cows are bought, 
ample room for a flock of 100 sheep, together with their 
year's supply of forage. There is an engine-room at the 
right-hand corner, 12 X 18 feet ; next, a 12 X 14 feet milk 
and butter room, small shaft enters to attach churn to. 
Next, three box-stalls, 8x12 feet, opening out of a 
passage-way six feet wide, which leads from the principal 
feeding-floor to the milk and engine room. The milk 
and butter room is sheathed up on the outside with well- 
seasoned, planed, and matched lumber, and plastered on 
the inside, with double doors to prevent any odors from 
entering. The floor of the engine and butter rooms, and 
of the entire establishment, is cement. 

A, A, A, represent an elevated track, upon which a 
box holding Ensilage enough to feed 25 cows is sus- 
pended. This track is overhead in the centre of the 
feed-floors. 

The first floor into which the Silos open is 12 feet 
wide ; next to this is a manger 2^ feet wide ; next is the 
lintel floor, four feet ten inches wide ; next, gutter, one 



112 



THE BOOK OF ENSILAGE. 




MODEL DAIRY STABLE. 



113 




114 '^^^ BOOK OF ENSILAGE. 

foot s next, passage-way, four feet ; next, gutter, one foot ; 
then another lintel, five feet ten inches ; next, a manger, 
2 2 feet (by mistake it is drawn as two feet : the lintel 
floors are also drawn 5I feet wide, they should be 4 feet 
10 inches to 5 feet wide) ; now comes feed-floor from 
which two rows of cows are fed ; between this floor and 
the next are two lintels, with mangers, gutters, and pas- 
sage-way as above ; then comes the last passage-way or 
feed-floor ; upon one side of this floor the lintel extends 
clear across the structure. The space 18 X 56 feet on 
the left of the Silos may be used as a sheep-shed, or be 
subdivided to suit for the keeping of calves, &c. 

Fig. 2 is an elevation of the same, showing the general 
shape of the superstructure, also position and an end 
view of the mangers, position of the gutters, which 
should be about six inches deep ; also sloping floor upon 
which the cows stand ; this floor should incline towards 
the gutter, one inch at least to the foot. On this side 
of the stable there should be three sliding doors, one at 
the corner, the others in centres of the double lintels. 
They should be nine feet wide, so that the manure can be 
loaded upon a manure-spreader or cart, and be hauled 
directly to the fields, and spread upon the land. 

The dotted line at the left hand shows that portion 
of the Silos which is under ground. This figure is 
drawn with the posts 16 feet high, which is higher than 
is necessary: 10 feet is ample. The Silos are 18 X 48 
feet inside, and 23 feet deep: they will hold 1,000 tons 
of Ensilage, which is sufficient to feed 100 cows one 
year. The rye Ensilage, which can be raised upon the 
same land as the i ,000 tons of corn Ensilage, will furnish 
plenty of feed to keep the other 18 cows, the calves 
and young stock, or 100 to 150 sheep. 

Fig. 3 shows how the travelling feed-box may be 



MODEL DAIRY STABLE. 



115 



constructed. The bottom is sloped up at the end ; 
the head-boards can be taken out. A 12 to 16 tined 
fork, such as is used to handle charcoal, may be used 
to feed with. A little experience will enable the feeder 
to measure upon the fork the necessary amount of 
Ensilage to each cow. If the Improved Ensilage is 




Fig. 3. 

used, it will not take one man more than one hour to 
feed the whole 118 cows. If the grain be fed separately, 
it will take at least an hour to feed the grain alone. 
This feed-box is made four feet long, 2\ feet wide, and 
2\ feet high. 



Il6 THE BOOK OF ENSILAGE. 

This dairy establishment can be built, Silos and all, 
for less than one-half the cost of the necessary storage 
and stable room, when the same amount of stock are 
kept upon hay and grain. 

The corn-fodder and green rye necessary to keep the 
Ii8 cows, calves, and yearlings or sheep, can be raised 
upon 30 acres of good land, while upon a hay and grain 
diet it would require at least 118 acres of the very best 
land to keep the cows alone. 

Ensilage will re-people and restore the old deserted 
farms of New England. Thousands of these farms, with 
comfortable buildings, can be bought for less than half 
the improvements would cost. 

The hitherto insurmountable difficulty has been to get 
a stock of manure to begin with, there being none for 
sale in the back counties, and the transportation from the 
cities would make it cost too much. I propose to show 
how that obstacle can be overcome. Let the purchaser 
of one of these old farms commence operations in the 
spring. He will require a pair of good strong horses, and 
need a couple of cows, a dozen or two of fowls, and ought 
to have four good breeding-sows and a Berkshire boar. 
Turn the cows and the hogs out to pasture ; cut down 
and burn the bushes upon the best of the old grass-fields ; 
the last of May and the first of June break up 15 acres, 
turning under the green growth ; if there is a good thick 
sod, it would pay to sow broadcast 100 pounds of nitrate 
of soda to the acre about the 20th of April : this will 
stimulate the grass to grow, and give a much larger 
green crop to turn under. After breaking, harrow twice 
with the Randall disk-harrow, then with the smoothing- 
harrow. Plant in drills four feet apart, using half a 
bushel of Mammoth Ensilage seed-corn to the acre, 
and distribute in the drills 200 to 300 pounds of Bradley's 



HOW TO RESTORE THE OLD FARM. II7 

X L phosphate, or any other equally good and reliable 
fertilizer, if you can obtain it. I have used the X L 
phosphate for many years, and it has never disappointed 
me. On land where there is but little grass to turn 
under, better broadcast from 200 to 300 pounds of phos- 
phate, and harrow it in before planting. The corn 
comes up large and strong, with a dark, healthy green 
color : it soon carries it out of the way of the cut- worm, 
and is sufficient for its rapid growth until the rootlets 
reach the mass of decaying vegetable matter turned 
under., which is one of the best fertilizers to make an im- 
mense growth of corn. The corn will be ten days earlier, 
and twice as large, for the phosphate. In short, about 
200 pounds of standard fertilizer to the acre in the drill 
will pay, no matter how much stable-manure you may 
have. The labor saved of preparing, composting, and 
distributing the stable-manure will pay for and apply the 
phosphate, so that whatever fertilizing material there is 
in the phosphate actually costs nothing. 

1 5 acres, planted and fertilized as above, will produce 
at least 300 tons of corn-fodder. After planting is 
finished, build two Silos after the plan on page 73, but 
larger, say 15 feet wide, 12 or 15 feet high, and 30 to 35 
feet long: they will cost about $80 to $100 for cement, 
lumber, and extra labor in laying the wall, besides the 
labor of the farmer and his team. Now the man who has 
followed my plan thus far, and Ensilaged his corn-fodder, 
will find himself, at the approach of winter, with ample 
forage to keep 30 cows the year round, or to winter 60 
head, or five cows and 250 to 300 sheep. If he has 
money enough, and his wife is a strong and able help- 
mate, and they fancy dairying, let him buy 25 good new- 
milch cows, sell butter, and follow the advice given Syl- 
vester with swine. 



Il8 THE BOOK OF ENSILAGE. 

If he has but little money, or does not like dairying, 
let him take sheep to keep upon shares, saving the best 
ewe lambs. The sale of wool and ram lambs will give 
him a good revenue. In the spring, if he has used, as 
he should, plenty of dry muck or loam for absorbents, he 
will have a pile of manure which will make the old field 
smile. Thereafter pursue the course laid down (see 
page 37), — sow winter rye (applying the stable-manure 
broadcast during the fall and winter) , to cut and Ensilage 
in May or the first of June, then plough at once, and drill 
in the corn with phosphate. Every year will witness 
increased fertility, more stock, larger crops, and greater 
prosperity. 



/ 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

CONCLUSION OF THE BOOK OF ENSILAGE. 

In conclusion, fellow- farmers, let me tell you why I 
have written this book. In the first place, I am actuated 
by an earnest desire to do all I can to improve the con- 
dition of the American farmer. His life has been too 
long a life of toil and drudgery. He has had little if 
any time for social enjoyment or intellectual improve- 
ment. Hard work continuously, accompanied by the 
most parsimonious economy, has been the only way by 
which he could hope to acquire a competence for his old 
age. In this fierce struggle oftentimes the farmer's wife 
has had the hardest lot of the two ; working from early 
morn until late at night, the slave of a horde of hired 
men the profit on whose labor, by the old systems, was 
so slender that the expense of a hired girl would have 
put the balance on the wrong side, till at last, weary and 
worn, too often she lies down to her last sleep when but 
half way on the journey of life ; leaving a family of 
children to grow up as best they may, without any of 
those tender and hallowed influences which ought to 
surround every fireside, and make its bright and happy 
memories in after life a golden shield of protection to 
keep them from straying from the right way wherein 
there is happiness, joy, and peace. 

The boys grow up. They hate farming : they go to 

119 



I20 THE BOOK OF ENSILAGE. 

the city, and join the already crowded trades, professions, 
or occupations ; and, in ninety cases out of one hundred, 
their Hves are failures. 

The girls declare they "won't marry a farmer!" 
(That is one reason why " the boys leave the farm.") 
They go into the factories, shops, and. to — God knows 
where ! let us hope he will watch over them, and guide 
their footsteps to something better than that which 
awaits too many who go to the city fresh and pure as 
the air on their native hills, to meet disappointment and 
privation, till at last they sink out of sight, ruined, — 
lost ! 

What is necessary to change all this, is larger crops, 
more and better stock, and consequently greater profits. 
This will give the necessary leisure for improvement, for 
rest, and recreation. 

By adopting the system of " Ensilage," the labor of a 
farm can be so systemized that these opportunities can 
be improved, and the farmer's life become in fact, what it 
has always been in theory, and sometimes in practice, — 
the most independent and honorable of any class. 

Secondly, Since I opened my Silo, and the papers all 
gave more or less accurate and detailed accounts of my 
success In preserving corn-fodder in its green state, I 
have received an immense number of letters from all 
parts of the country, asking me to " please give them a 
little more information 'how' I did it," &c. Well, I 
have answered several hundred ; I hated to refuse or 
neglect so civil a request from so large a number of the 
very men whom I most respect ; but it had come to this 
pass, that I had got to employ an amanuensis, and devote 
my whole time to diffusing information through the mails, 
or refuse to answer nine-tenths of the inquiries. 

Several hundred years ago they used to diffuse knowl- 



CONCLUSION OF THE BOOK OF ENSILAGE. 121 

edge by the means of manuscript sent to parties desiring 
it ; but it soon struck me that in this present enlightened 
Ensil-age it was not exactly '' up to the times ! " I have 
therefore jotted down, as I have had leisure, what I know 
about the system. I feel diffident in thus giving in- 
struction how to proceed, for I know I have much yet to 
learn ; but the farmer who carefully studies this book 
will know a great deal better how to go to work than I 
did when I began ; and my cattle and sheep all told me 
to-day (May 25) that it *' was the greatest kind of a suc- 
cess ! " But then, my stock like me, and are doubtless 
partial. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

LATEST RESULTS IN PRESERVING AND FEEDING. 

Since the first edition of the " Book of Ensilage" was 
published, I have learned several things connected with 
the system, which I consider of importance. First, I have 
learned that it is unwise to try to raise two crops upon the 
same land in one season, unless that land is in a high state 
of fertility ; and even then I believe that it will be better 
to raise one big crop, and devote the other to fertiliza- 
tion. I shall therefore try the following plan this fall and 
next season. As soon as my Ensilage corn is cleared 
off of the ground, I shall drill in rye with a one-horse 
grain-drill having five hoes, two of them on each side 
being attached to wings like the side pieces of an ordi- 
nary cultivator, so that the drills may be widened to 
equally distribute the drills between the rows of corn 
stubble, which are undisturbed whatever distance they 
may be apart. At any time during the winter, while the 
ground is frozen, a roller or drag will knock down and 
break off the corn-stubble. In the spring, harrow with 
a smoothing-harrow, or, what is better, with the " 7iew 
broad- cast grain and cor7i cultivator !' 

The latter part of May I shall turn under the green 
r}'e, just as the heads are making -their appearance, and 
drill in " Mammoth Ensilage Corn," with 200 to 300 



LATEST RESULTS TX P RESERVING AND FEEDING. 1 23 

pounds of best superphosphate to the acre. This green- 
manuring, with the fertilizer to give the corn a start, will 
bring a hea\y crop of fodder. 

Some of my best corn this year was raised upon an 
inverted sod, with no manure save 250 pounds of phos- 
phate in the drill. 

Do not understand that I shall not use stable-manure. 
I shall apply it broadcast during the fall, winter, and 
early spring, upon the rye. using " Kemp's Broadcast 
IManure Spreader." 

I am in receipt of many inquiries as whether it will do 
to put fodder which is partly dn,- into the Silo, or not. 
My experience with r}-e answers this question perfectly. 
Owing to dela}^, I did not get ready to ensilage my r}-e 
this season until the 12th of June, at least two weeks 
later than it should have been. The erain was t^vo- 
thirds formed in the heads, the straw was partly turned, 
and altogether it was too ripe ; but, as an experiment, it is 
much more valuable than it would have been had the 
r}-e been in its most succulent stage (we all know it will 
keep if ensilaged in that stage). The weather was 
excessively hot and very dry. I cut the rye, and for two 
days attempted to pack it in one of my Silos ; but it was 
so dry it would not wilt enough to pack. I was satisfied 
that the mass of Ensilage would contain so much oxvo-en 
that it would mould and spoil if put in in that manner. 
I therefore attached a hose to the stable water-pipe, and 
run a spray of water upon the cut ry^ as it fell into the 
Silo : this thorough wetting caused it to pack solidly. I 
kept a horse constantly walking upon the r}'e, Avhich, by 
the way, is the most economical way of compacting in 
Silos as large or larger than mine. I also mixed two 
and a half acres of hea\'A^ clover and blue-erass with the 
10 acres of rye. I did not open this r}^e and grass Ensi- 



124 '^^^ BOOK OF ENSILAGE. 

lage until I was ready to fill the balance of the silo with 
corn Ensilage. 

On Sept. 24, upon removing the weights and the plank 
covering, there was found a layer of about an inch in 
thickness of rye Ensilage, which was somewhat mouldy. 
There was no unpleasant or musty smell, however, to 
this layer ; and, when fed to the cows, they seemed to 
relish it. Directly under this thin layer the E7isilage was 
perfect, not the slightest mould, fresh, and with a 
delightful odor, excepting that it was somewhat too 
strong of alcohol. A large basket of it was taken to 
the cows, which had been at pasture all day, had been 
fed with all the cut green-corn fodder they would eat, 
and had received their evening grain-ration ; no sooner 
was it within their reach than they grabbed the Ensilage 
as if they were famished, and swallowed it as if it were 
the sweetest morsel, never stopping an instant until it 
was all gone. The next morning we commenced filling 
in the corn on top of the rye. Thus, from a threatened 
failure, we gain a valuable lesson ; and that is, to wet the 
forage if it is not green and succulent. 

The first edition of 2,000 copies of "The Book 
of Ensilage" is sold (or this new one of 5,000 copies 
would not have made its appearance) , and has received 
a most favorable reception from the press of the 
country and the public generally. I am not troubled 
that a very few scientific men have attempted to in- 
directly criticise it, saying : First, " We have known 
all this matter before this Bailey tried it." Second, 
"It is absurd to suppose that the process of Ensilage 
improves the forage." Third, " It is doubtful whether it 
has any advantages over drying. And between the lines 
they plainly say, " We had nothing to do with demon- 
strating the practical utility of this system in America, 



LATEST RESULTS TN PRESERVING AA'D FEEDING. 125 

THEREFORE there is nothing in it worthy of notice. We 
have been trying this 2)'^ years to effect something by 
preaching ' deep ploughing,' underdraining, beet-sugar, 
and many other things " (all of which have fallen still- 
born upon the general agricultural mind), "and the 
only monuments we have to point to thus far, are the 
' beat ' sugar companies." 

To the first criticism people say, " If this is so, why 
have you hidden your light under a bushel all these 
years, while we were groping in the darkness ? " 

To the second criticism, I will only ask my scientific 
friend if he has ever thought of the difference between 
leavened and unleavened bread, and if the leavening 
does not add to its food n^Xm^, — whether it increases its 
intrinsic food elements, or not ? 

In reply to the third, I will take the liberty of quoting 
Professor Knapp of the Iowa State Agricultural College, 
in a recent article : — 

" In this climate the forage-plants of most luxuriant growth are coarse 
and succulent, not easily cured, and when dry contain much woody 
fibre. In their green state they are an excellent food for stock, with little 
waste ; in their dry state a considerable proportion is indigestible, which, 
with the parts animals reject, constitutes about 40 per cent of the whole. 
The proportion of innutritious parts depends much upon the kind, 
coarseness, time of cutting, manner of curing, storing, &c. ; but it is 
safe to place the range at from 15 to 50 per cent. To this should be 
added liability to damage by wet weather, owing to the long time 
required to cure such crops in the field. I emphasize the forage-crops, 
because in my judgment the future progressive agriculture largely 
depends upon the utilization of them. A ton of green-corn fodder can 
be grown ready for cutting for ten cents, not including interest on land. 
On rich land it can be grown for six cents per ton. This includes ear 
and stalk as it stands in the field ready for the cutter. The experiment 
by Wolff has shown, that, when cut green early in x^ugust, the amount of 
crude fibre is less than five per cent. Could it be cut fine, and pre- 
served in this condition, the practical saving of material would be over 
30 per cent, not estimating for damage in curing by reason of storms. 



126 THE BOOK OF ENSILAGE. 

Another important consideration, impossible to estimate by percentage, 
is the higher health of animals having rations of green food. 

"The consumption of a large amount of dry corn-fodder, or even 
enough for daily subsistence, has not proven conducive to health. If 
we consider economy of food and health of animal solely, the balancing 
of considerations must largely favor Ensilage." 

Green grass and other forage-crops contain over 80 
per cent of water ; in the process of curing by drying, 
about 70 per cent is evaporated. Now, this 70 per cent 
of water carries with it a large amount of valuable nutri- 
tion. That which passes off is just what makes the 
difference between June butter and winter butter. If it 
does not lose by drying the first time, how does it hap- 
pen that it loses so much by drying the second time, 
after being wet ? The wetting does not injure the forage, 
else cut feed would be injured by being sprinkled, and 
steaming fodder would be utter ruin. It is the drying, 
after the wetting, that robs the forage of its value. The 
water which is dried out of the forage leaves it in 
the shape of hay-tea, and the first "drawing" is the 
strongest. 

Do not be alarmed if the cut fodder heats as you are 
filling the Silo. Mr. Potter allows his Ensilage to "heat" 
before he .attempts to compact it. Sufficient moisture 
and pressure will stop the fermentation at any time. Do 
not think it is not preserved, with all its nutritive ele- 
ments not only unimpaired, but improved, because it 
does not look as freshly green as when waving in the 
fields. There are some persons who are so difficult to 
suit, that they are not satisfied unless they can find under 
the lid of each can of preserved fruit a button-hole bou- 
quet of fresh peach and apple blossoms. 

The true test is, will the cattle eat it, and do they 
thrive upon it ? Mr. Potter's clover Ensilage comes out 



LATEST RESULTS IN PRESERVING AND FEEDING. 127 

of his Silo in the form of a putty-like substance : never- 
theless his stock thrives better upon it than upon clover 
fresh from the fields. 

Ensilage has no tendency to bloat or scour animals. 

M. H. Simpson, President of the Roxbury Carpet 
Company, at his farm in Saxonville, Mass., has built Silos 
after my plan, and has ensilaged several acres of Mam- 
moth Ensilage Corn, the stalks from 30 acres of field 
corn, and 35 acres of heavy rowen. He has opened his 
Silo, and is feeding his ensilaged rowen to his cows and 
his horses, and they eat it with a keener relish than any 
other food. I have not raised the 75 tons of corn-fodder 
upon an acre yet ; but from my experience this season I 
am more than ever convinced that it can be raised, and 
I still confidently expect to accomplish it before many 
seasons. Encouraged by the distinguished approbation 
of my fellow-citizens and fellow- farmers, I shall continue 
to experiment. He needs be a bold man who ventures 
to say, in this day of improvement and progress, that 
such and such things cannot be accomplished by intelli- 
gent and persevering effort. 



CHAPTER XXV. 

FATTENING STEERS, FEEDING SWINE, METHOD OF FEEDING, 
WARM WATER FOR STOCK, ETC. 

In the fall of 1879 I had three yearling steers come 
down from New Hampshire, where they had been at 
pasture, " spring poor," as the saying is. One was 
a Jersey ; the second, half Ayreshire, the first calf of a 
Jersey heifer less than two years old ; and the third one, a 
native. They were very thin, — so reduced in flesh that I 
thought it very doubtful about their living through the 
winter. From their return, Oct. 15 until Dec. 3, I 
tried, with the best of hay, roots, and grain, to make 
them gain, but with no perceptible success. On the 3d 
of December I opened my Silo of Ensilaged corn-fodder, 
and commenced to feed them with Ensilage and a small 
quantity of wheat-shorts and oil-meal. I gradually in- 
creased the ration, feeding no more than they would eat 
up clean. They soon began to gain ; their hair looked 
better ; they handled better. The improvement, at first 
slow, rapidly increased until, on the ninth day of March, 
I sold them for beef. Upon being slaughtered the next 
day, they dressed 1,486 pounds (meat, hides, and tal- 
low). 

On the 1 2th of October, 1880, I opened my Silo, 
which was filled the preceding month. The Ensilage 
was found to be perfectly preserved, — in color a much 
darker green than my Ensilage of the previous year, — 
owing to the corn being cut and packed in the Silo in a 
younger and more succulent stage. I am more than ever 
satisfied that the proper time to cut the corn-fodder is 
128 



FATTENING STEERS, ETC. 1 29 

when it is in blossom. Professor Goessmann writes, that 
the *' corn-plant contains the greatest amount of nutri- 
ment just before the tassel appears." He may be right if 
the forage is to be fed directly from the field. I cannot 
but think, however, that there would be a loss in cutting 
it so early for preservation by Ensilage. I do not think 
there can be much loss even if some of the most forward 
stalks have ears formed, and the kernels in the milk. The 
yield will certainly be greater, as at that time there are 
many smaller stalks and suckers which are still growing. 

My method of feeding is as follows: I remove from 
the Silo 50 pounds of Ensilage (about one cubic foot) 
for each grown animal daily, mixing one pound of oil- 
meal or wheat-bran to every 10 pounds of Ensilage. 
I have a large box standing upon the barn-floor, in 
which I mix it and let it stand about twenty-four hours 
before feeding. By that time it is quite warm : the 
grain addition has had time to become soft, and its 
digestibility is undoubtedly increased to a great degree. 
There is in every 50 pounds of Ensilage about 40 
pounds of water, — nearly all the animal requires. It is 
a great advantage to have this amount of water warfn 
when taken into the stomach. There has been no labor 
or fuel expended in warming it, which is quite an item. 
When animals are allowed to drink ice-cold water in 
winter, there is quite a large percentage of the food 
which would produce fat consumed in raising the tem- 
perature of the water they drink from freezing cold to 
blood heat. 

When I opened my Silo Oct. 12, 1880, I weighed 20 
head of stock, and commenced to feed them upon the 
Ensilaged corn. They were all quite thin, having been 
upon a very poor pasture all summer. They could by 
no means be called a thrifty lot of cattle, or a lot from 



I30 



THE BOOK OF ENSILAGE. 



which much gain could be expected from their condi- 
tion, age, or breed. 

Nov. 15, I weighed them again. During this time 
they were fed i ,000 pounds of Ensilage daily ; and dur- 
ing the first 18 days, 100 pounds of cotton-seed meal 
daily. During the last 15 days they were fed 100 
pounds of Brewer's sprouts in lieu of the cotton-seed 
meal. I should have fed more sprouts ; but 100 pounds 
were all they would eat. 

Their breeding, condition, age, and weights are given 
in the following table : — 



No. 


Description. 


Age. 


Weight 
IN Pounds. 


Weight 
in Pounds. 








Oct. 12. 


Nov. 15. 


I 


Grade Jersey, in milk, fair condition . 


14 yrs. 


i,o47i 


I,052i 


2 


Registered Jersey, in calf 7 months, 










fair condition 


IS " 


945 


967^ 


3 


Jersey cow, calved Oct. 24 (calf 
weighed 6^ lbs.), since which she 
has given 12 to 14 qts. of milk daily; 










fair condition 


4 " 


1,000 


875 


4 


Grade Hereford heifer, thin condition. 


2 " 


790 


890 


q 


Native heifer, fair condition .... 


24" 


92s 


927i 


6 


Native cow, due in February, very thin 






condition 


M " 


900 


925 


7 


Jersey bull, thin condition 


4 " 


1,205 


1,250 


8 


Jersey heifer, fair condition .... 


lomos 


345 


375 


9 


Jersey cow, in milk, thin condition, due 










in January 


4 yrs. 


750 


780 


10 


Jersey and Ayrshire heifer, in milk, 




.thin condition 


2 " 


715 


730 


II 


Grade Jersey heifer, very thin condition, 


2 " 


620 


682^ 


12 


Native heifer, due in March, fair con- 










dition 


2 " 


900 
490 


922! 
520 


13 


Jersey heifer, thin condition .... 


' 2 


14 


Grade Jersey heifer, fair condition . . 


6mos 


280 


300 


I? 


Grade Jersey heifer, very thin condition. 


2 yrs. 


550 


61 2| 


16 


Grade Ayrshire, very thin condition . 


li" 


570 


640 


17 


Jersey bull, very thin condition . . . 


2 " 


950 


1,005 


18 


Jersey bull, very thin condition . . . 


2 " 


880 


960 


19 


Jersey bull, thin condition 


6mos 


190 


210 


20 


Native heifer, in milk, thin condition . 


2 yrs. 


730 


745 


21 


Jersey calf, dam No. 3, born Oct. 24, 
weio'ht at birth, 65 lbs 






90 




Total weight in pounds .... 








• • 


i4,847i 


15,585 



FATTENING STEERS, ETC. 



131 



Total gain 737^ lbs. 

Gain per head 35.12 " 

Gain per day, per head 1.06 " 

Greatest gain per day, No. 4 3 " 

The gain in weight, however satisfactory under the 
circumstances, does not convey an accurate idea of their 
real improvement. It is a well-known fact that there is 
a much larger proportion of water in a poor animal than 
in a fat one. The first change which takes place when 
fattening begins is a decrease in the amount of water 
contained in the tissues of the animal ; and the increase 
in fat, however considerable, does not always make up 
for this loss of weight. 

It is the opinion of all who inspected the above ani- 
mals at the beginning of the experiment, as well as since 
Nov. 15, that the increase in weight does not equal the 
improvement in the quality of the beef. It should also 
be borne in mind that the season is the most unfavor- 
able for gain, being at the commencement of cold 
weather, — "between hay and grass," — when cattle 
generally shrink in weight. 

I am feeding my store hogs upon about 10 pounds of 
Ensilage and one pound of wheat-bran to each animal 
weighing over 250 pounds. They are doing well, and the 
cost does not exceed two cents per day. Clover pre- 
served by Ensilage would be excellent, and require no 
grain added to it. Young pigs are exceedingly fond of 
the Ensilaofe. 

I feed it occasionally to my work and driving horses. 
It has as good an effect as an occasional feed of carrots 
or other roots. 

In taking the Ensilage out of the Silo, much labor will 
be saved by taking it out in vertical slices from the top 
down to the bottom of the door, removing the weights and 



J -2 THE BOOK OF ENSILAGE. 

plank covering as fast as necessary. Place the plank on 
the undisturbed mass in the lower half of the Silo as 
they are removed from the top, thereby making a floor 
to stand upon, and to run a car or wheelbarrow upon. 
When the end of the Silo farthest from the door is 
reached, commence at that end, dig down to the bottom, 
throwing the Ensilage with a large fork upon the plank 
floor, and, by taking out vertical slices, gradually work 
back towards the door. This floor, which is laid upon 
the lower half, need not be weighted. There is no ne- 
cessity for protecting the Ensilage from the air while it 
is being fed out, as a fresh surface is exposed to the 
atmosphere each day ; and it is so compact, that, if left 
untouched for three or four days even in warm weather, 
no injurious fermentation can, or does, take place. It 
will be warm only on the outer two or three inches. 
The finer it is cut or shredded, the closer it will pack ; 
and consequently less space will be lost by settling. 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

ILLUSTRATING THE NUTRITIVE VALUE OF ENSILAGE. 

That it is a highly nutritious food is proven by the 
fact that my cows, fed upon it during the winter, brought 
me very fine, large, strong calves, — upon their feet and 
sucking almost as soon as dropped. My Vermont Me- 
rino ewes sheared upon an average 9 pounds of wool, 
which I sold for 30 cents a pound at home. They also 
brought fine, strong, vigorous lambs. The lambs were 
sired, part of them, by a pure Cotswold ram, and the 
balance by a pure Oxford down ram. They weighed, 
when born, from 6 to I2i pounds each. Some of the 
Merino ewes bore twins weighing 17^ pounds. My 
Cotswold ewes did equally well, bringing lambs weigh- 
ing from 10 to i5i pounds each when born. 

Some of my Cotswold ewes sheared as high as 16 
pounds of wool. The whole flock averaged 1 1 pounds 
7 ounces. 

My Oxford downs averaged over 12 pounds of wool 
each. The weight of lambs and of fleeces given above 
proves that no food could be better for sheep. I have 
never seen young cattle and calves grow as rapidly in 
summer upon good pasture as they do in winter in a 
warm stable and fed upon Ensilage and oil-meal. The 
mixture is easy to digest ; the animal does not have to 

133 



134 ^^^ BOOK OF ENSILAGE. 

work for it ; there are no flies to annoy ; there is noth- 
ing to do but to grow. 

I believe colts can be brought forward to maturity in 
less than two-thirds of the time required to raise them 
upon summer pasture and the usual winter food. 

One thing I wish to impress upon those who contem- 
plate building, and it is this : build strongly and sub- 
stantially. Silos are not expensive when properly built. 
They should be built to last. The lateral pressure while 
settling under the weight is very great. A side-hill should 
always be selected as a site when convenient to the sta- 
bles. Let the end opposite the door extend into the hill 
so that the earth will come as near as possible to the top 
of the wall. It will be more convenient in putting the 
weights on and removing them.. If the side-walls are 
banked or terraced up on the outside nearly or quite to 
the top of the walls, all the better. 

It will not be necessary for every farmer to buy an 
engine, or even a cutter. One set of machinery, if suffi- 
ciently powerful, will answer for three or four neighbor- 
ing farmers. Parties who have engines or horse-power 
for threshing can get a powerful cutter, and add to their 
season's business by cutting the Ensilage crops, as well 
as threshing the grain for the farmers of a neighbor- 
hood. 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

CHEMISTRY OF THE SILO. 

That important chemical changes take place during 
the curing of green forage plants by the system of Ensi- 
lage cannot be doubted. I believe there is a formation 
of acetic acid to a greater or less extent in all cases, and 
that the acetic fermentation is the first change which 
takes place. There can be no saccharine fermentation 
until after acetic fermentation takes place. I doubt its 
being a saccharine fermentation at all : it is rather a trans- 
formation. 

I understand the changes to take place as follows : 
the oxygen of the air in the mass acting upon the sugar 
in the plant converts that sugar (in corn about 1 1 per 
cent) into acetic acid ; the acid acts upon the starch (in 
corn about 56 per cent), and converts it into grape- 
sugar, or glucose, in much the same manner as sulphuric 
acid acts upon the corn in the manufacture of glucose. 
The next stage of fermentation is the conversion of 
the grape-sugar, or glucose, into alcohol, which, being 
very volatile, passes off into the atmosphere. Then, and 
not until then, does real putrid fermentation or decay 
begin. The previous stages are metamorphoses or 
changes from one form to another of the elements of 
nutrition. 

135 



136 



THE BOOK OF ENSILAGE. 



If the above is correct, the presence of acetic acid, or 
sourness, so far from being an injury, is a positive bene- 
fit ; for without the acid the starch, which is hard to di- 
gest, could not be converted into sugar, which is easy to 

digest. 

In alluding to the manufacture of glucose, I am 
brought to consider the relative value of different varie- 
ties of corn. As it matters but little whether the corn 
at the time it is cut contains sugar or starch (chemi- 
cally they are almost identical), as the sugar which 
exists in the plant is converted into acetic acid, while the 
starch is converted into sugar, it follows that the variety 
which will produce the greatest amount of sugar and 
starch to the acre is the best ; that sweet corn (which 
has been so highly extolled as a forage crop, and justly, 
perhaps, if fed fresh from the field) does not produce 
as much sugar and starch or ultimate sugar, is proven by 
the fact that the managers of glucose factories do not 
recommend the planting of sweet corn. Were it other- 
wise, they would be as particular about the variety of 
seed-corn planted that it should be sweet corn, as the 
managers of beet-sugar factories are that the farmers 
who raise sugar-beets for them procure the seed from 

them. 

As a general rule, that variety of corn which grows the 
largest, which produces the greatest number of tons to 
the acre, is the best. In some of the Southern States 
pearl millet may prove superior to corn. In Ensilaging 
it, I think, it would be well to cut it just before it heads. 
In the whole Southern region the field-pea should not be 
overlooked. It has an excellent effect upon the soil, and 
upon good land will yield an enormous crop. It is a 
plant which draws much of its nourishment from the 
atmosphere. 



CHEMISTRY OF THE SILO. I37 

Rape, I am inclined to think, might prove a valuable 
forage crop, especially winter rape. ■ It might be sown 
before the corn is cut, and would doubtless make a heavy 
growth before the hard frosts. It would shade and pro- 
tect the ground from washing, and furnish good pastur- 
age in the fall for sheep. In the spring it could be cut 
and packed in the Silo, or turned under as a green ma- 
nure. The expense for seed would be much less than 
for winter rye or oats. 

In many sections the heavy crops of weeds which 
grow upon fallow lands might be mowed before they 
become too hard, and packed in Silo. They would make 
an excellent food for sheep at least a portion of the time. 
If cut when very green and succulent, they might be 
mixed with oat or even wheat straw, and thereby convert 
the straw into a very good quality of forage. 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

HOW TO RAISE THE MAXIMUM CROP OF FODDER CORN. 

A GREAT amount of labor is lost by sowing fodder corn 
too thick, as well as a large amount of seed wasted. 
Many sow three bushels to the acre ; some sow but two 
bushels ; and a few sow but one. I sow but one-half 
bushel, and my corn is always too thick. The man who 
has raised the largest crop the past season sowed but 12 
quarts of seed to the acre. Make the drills at least four 
feet apart, and sow one-half bushel of Mammoth Ensilage 
seed-corn to the acre ; then, when it is about a foot high, 
thin it to 6 and 8 inches between stalks, and I can as- 
sure you, with a good corn season, if the land is suit- 
able for corn, is well manured and given frequent culti- 
vation, a crop weighing from 40 to 75 tons to the acre. 
When corn is planted too thick, those plants which 
do not attain their full growth are nothing more than 
weeds. As dirt is only matter out of place, so a weed is 
only a plant out of place. No plant is so far out of 
place as when it is crowded by other plants of the same 
kind so that its growth is impaired : it then becomes a 
mere weed, and only serves to injure the growth of the 
proper number of plants in the hill or drill. 
138 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

NEW FORAGE PLANTS AND NEW USES FOR ENSILAGE. 

In concluding this new edition, let me urge all enter- 
prising farmers to try experiments in raising the various 
forage plants ; especially let us seek for a plant which 
will grow during the fall and spring months, and yield a 
crop approximating the yield of corn. There are many 
weeds, biennials, which make their principal growth in 
the fall months of the first season and the early months 
of the second season, reaching their full growth in sea- 
son to grow corn. They might become very valuable to 
grow upon light lands which suffer severely by the 
drought in the summer months. Why may not hybridi- 
zation do as much to improve our forage plants as it has 
to improve our vegetables and small fruits, and to clothe 
with new beauties the common garden flowers of half a 
century ago ? 

I believe that we are upon the eve of an entire change 
in preserving not only forage plants for our domestic 
animals, but that the true way to preserve herbs is to 
gather them fresh, and press them into tight jars or cans, 
and hermetically seal them ; also that tea might and will 
be preserved in small sealed cans with all its delicate 
flavors and aroma unimpaired by exposure to the atmos- 
phere during the process of curing by drying. To cure 

139 



T40 THE BOOK OF ENSILAGE, 

tea properly is by far the most expensive item in tea- 
culture. It can only be profitably raised where labor is 
very cheap. The tea-plant grows well and flourishes in 
California, and in many localities of the South ; but we 
cannot compete with Asiatic labor at 4 to 6 cents per 
day in curing it. If it can be preserved in jars or cans 
in its green state, so compacted as to expel all the air, 
and sealed so as to prevent evaporation and fermenta- 
tion or change, it is very possible that the culture of tea 
in our own country may become a profitable pursuit : 
the product, too, may be superior. Herb-tea is much 
better made with the freshly gathered plant than when 
the dried herb is used. I trust that those who are 
experimenting with the tea-plant in the South and on 
the Pacific coast will test the preservation of tea by Ensi- 
lage. 



ANT ADDITIONAL INFORMATION WHICH MAT RESULT FROM MT EXPEKI- 
WITNTS AS TO THE BEST METHODS OR MACHINERT FOR ENSILAGING, WILL 
BE CHEERFULLT FU RNISHED UPON REQUEST, ENCLOSING STAMP. 

Bailey's Patent Practical Tree Trimmer. 




By the use of this new pruning implement, fruit trees of all kinds can be carefully and 
symmetrically pruned without leaving the ground. The operator can see what ha is doing, 
and prune three trees with less labor and in less time than one can be trimmed with other 
pruning implements which require ladders and necessitate climbing. Limbs of any size up 
to two or three inches cut with a few blows of the sliding hammer, which the operator 
grasps in one hand. Price, $'1.50. ti- -..t tr ^r 

jManufactured by the Remuiiugton Agricultural Company, Illon^. Y., ana tor 
sale by all dealers in Agricultural Implements, and by 

JOHN M. BAILEY, "Winning Farm," Billerica, Mass. 



"Mammoth Ensilage" 

(John M. Bailey's Trade Mark.) 



Will yield from 40 to 75 tons to the acre; is more succulent; contains more 
sugar, and has more luxuriant foliage than any other variety. 

J. G. Walcott, of Peabody, had Mammoth Ensilage fodder corn the past 
season, from seed bought of me, which yielded at the rate of 72 tons to the 
acre. Some of the stalks were 19 feet 6 inches tall, and weighed over 12 pounds 
each. 

Only one-half bushel required to plant an acre. All report the yield much 
greater than with any other kind of seed. 

A large quantity of Mammoth Ensilage Seed Cokn, expressly for ensi- 
lage, price by mail 50 cents per pound, three pounds $1.00 ; by freight or express, 
$1.25 per half peck, $2.00 per peck, $3.00 per half bushel, $5.00 per bushel; 
$4.00 per bushel in lots of two bushels or more. No charge for bags. Plant 
from May 20 to July 10, in drills 4 feet apart. Manure heavily. 

I sold over 200 bushels of Mammoth Ensilage Seed Corn last year, and al- 
though I have raised the past season over 500 bushels, those who want Mam- 
moth Ensilage will do well to order soon, for at the rate orders are coming in it 
will all be taken before planting time. 



I raised more from one acre planted with Mammoth Ensilage than from three acres of 
Southern "White — all manured and cultivated alike. 

B. C. PLATT. Suffleld, Conn. 

Our Fodder Corn from your Mammoth Ensilage seed yielded a much greater weight 
than other kinds. 

J. O. POOR, North Andover, Mass. 

The Mammoth Ensilage is far superior to any other kind. 

H. R. BARKER, Lowell, Mass. 



The above are selected from a large number of testimonials. Send for cir- 
cular and catalogue. 

JOHN ]Vr. BA.ILEY, 

" Winning Farm," Billerica, Mass. 

OR — 

"Virginia Stock Farm," Waverly, Sussex Co., Va. 



JOHN M. BAILEY, 

BREEDER OF 

Shorthorn and Jersey Cattle, Cotswold, Oxfordshire Down, 

Vermont Merino, Cotswold Merino, and 

Oxford Merino Sheep. 

The " "Winning " flock of Cotswolds was formed by selecting all the iest sheep in the 
Mapleshade flock, belonging to Joseph Harris, Rochester, N. Y. (6 first premiums at New 
England Fair, 1880.) 

The Oxfordshire Downs are from the flocks of John Treadwell and A. J. Milton, Druce, 
England. 

The " Winning " Merinos are from the best flocks of Vermont. 

In the Cotswold and Oxford Merino there is to be found the most profitable sheep for 
mutton and wool in the world. For full description and history of these crosses send for 
illustrated catalogue. Mailed to all enquirers. 



A SPECIALTY MADE OF HIGH CLASS BERKSHIRES. 




"WINNIITG BELLADONNA." 

( IMPORTED. ) 

Winner of the First Prize at Ke-w England Fair, 1880. 

The " Winning " Berkshires are all from imported stock, which was bred by the cele- 
brated English breeders, Swanwick, Humf rey, Stewart, and Bailey. 

Pigs of all ages, with perfect pedigrees, from $5.00 upwards. Boars fit for service and 
Sows with pig, at reasonable prices. 

Send for Illustrated Circular and Catalogue. 

p. O. ADDRESS : 

"WINNINQ FARM," BILLERIOA, MASS. 



"Virginia Stock Parm," ¥averly, Sussex County, Va. 



Joseph Breck &; Sons 

j±re niakina a Specialty of all MACHINES, IMP£,EMENTS and SEEDS 
that are especially adapted to the requirements of the Ensilagist, and solicit 
correspondence on the subject. 

The follotving articles are almost indispensable : 



:px.a.n^ex Jj?. 




A.1L.SO,- 



The "Advance" Md flow and Thomas' hlverizing and Smoothing Harrow, 

For Preparing the Land; 

fearoe's Improved Sroad<Cast Seed Sower, Albany Corn and Seed Flanler, 

For Sowing the Seed; 

Whitman's Improved Railway Horse Power, 

For operating the Ensilage Cutter; 
AXD 

The lii^htning Hay and Ensilage Knife, 

For cutting down Ensilage in the silo. 

We shall be happy to mail descriptive circulars and quote prices on any of the 
foregoing articles. Also, our catalogues of Garden, Grass and Field Seed, and of 
Machines and Implements, are valuable as text books, and we furnish them free on 
application. 

Joseph. Breck A Sons, 

SI, 5^ OTtd 53 JSTo-rtK J\d.cLT''Pcet Street, 
BOSTON, MASS. 



The Bullard Hay Tedder. 




The Bullard Tedder has outlived scores of experimental 
machines, and is to-day better appreciated than ever before. Many 
different devices have been brought forward for turning grass, but 
nothing else has stood the test of practical farming but the crank 
motion and the movement of the forks that almost exactly reproduces 
the plunging swing of the fork in the hands of a brisk man. A glance 
at the cut will show that this movement in the Bullard Tedder is 
done at the rear of the machine, the end forks being outside the 
wheels. Thus the wheels never run over the tedded hay. Every par- 
ticle of the grass is lifted, tossed and shaken out from the bottom 
and left light and open to air and sun. It will do the work of from 
six to eight men, is very light draft, and is strong and durable. 

MA.NVFA.CTJJREI> ST 

THE mCS[iLE.DS01T MFG. CO- 

. Worcester, Mass. 



THE STANDARD 

New Model Buckeye. 




The Buckeye has stood the test of twenty-five years, and main- 
tains the place it has earned as the Standard Machine of 

America. These many seasons of use have established it as 
the best in its principle, and the strongest and most durable m con- 
struction. It has been kept up with the times to meet every demand 
of the hay field, and constantly improved in the direction of greater 

simplicity, . . . 

The New Model Buckeye is so simple m its mechanism 
that the most unskilled can use and keep it in order. While these 
improvements have greatly lightened and simplified the Buckeye, the 
old reliable features of strength and durability still remain. 

MANUFACTURED BY THE 

Richardson Manufacturing Co. 



KEMP'S PATENT 

MANURE SPREADER. 




This Machine is the most valuable invention ever offered to the 
farmer, as it saves labor, does its work better than it can possibly 
be done by hand, and can be used the season through for any 
purpose where a farm wagon is used. 

It will spread all kinds of Manure, from the roughest and 
toughest down to the finest, including ashes, in all conditions, wet or 
dry, and the time required to spread a load is from one and a half to 
two minutes, without manual labor. 

It is regulated to spread different quantities to the acre, so that 
the fanner knows just what amount of Manure he is using per acre. 

It has been fairly demonstrated in the past two seasons, from 
experiments made by parties owning these carts, that its use 
increases the crop frorti 20 to 30 per cent, and that 
Manure spread by this cart is worth One Dollar per Cord 
fnorCf owing to its fine and even distribution. 

It can be attached to the Fore Wheels of an ordinary Farm 
Wagon. 



MANUFACTURED BY THE 



Richardson Manufacturing Co., 

WORCESTER, MASS. 




ImW mki Scale; 



Absolute Accuracy f TJyivarying Accuracy, Sensi- 
tive Action, Durability, 

Are the necessities of a perfect Weighing Machine. 
ALL THESE REQUISITES ARE TO BE FOUND ONLY IN 








I 



>!j 



They are made in every variety, adapted to all uses, and with 

EVERY IMPROVEMENT 

which the skill and experience of a half-century in the business can suggest. 
MANUFACTURED ONLY BV 

E. & T. FAIRBANKS & CO. 

ST, JOHNSBURY, VT. 

ALSO, 

Miles' Alarm Tills, or Safety Money Drawers, 

Store Trucks, Coffee Mills, The Type 

Writer and Lawn Mowers. 

7A1 mil m EARIll OE IBS MD, ALSO TOR IM USE. 



WAREHOUSES 



- ^ ^^ ^ ^ft ^^ '^'"^ ^^'■^^*' ^°^^°"' " FAIRBANKS, BROWN & CO. 

^^^^^^^ 311 Broadway, New York, FAIRBANKS & CO, 



TOCKBEIDGE 

MANURES. 

= « *« ■ > 

SEND FOR NEW PAMPHLET. MAILED FREE. 



Seven years ago the Stockbridge Manures were only known to a few farmers 
in the Connecticut Valley. Now they are so extensively used in the Atlantic 
States as to require two large factories, one in Boston and one in New York, to 
manufacture them. This increase shows what farmers think of good ferti- 
lizers, and is not only due to the fact that they are rehable, well-made, and 
high-grade manures, bat also to the fact that farmers have found them 

PROFITABLE TO USE. 

And now that corn and other farm produce is bringing good prices, such as 
were seldom realized during the war, considering they are now on a gold basis, 
farmers will therefore find these manures still more profitable 10 use, 

ALSO, MANUFACTURERS OF 

AND 

DRILL 

The Best and Cheapest Sold 

ALSO FOR SALE^ 

Agricultural Chemicals, Ground Bone, &c. 



BOWEEE'S " V ", PHOSPM 



BOWKER FERTIUZER CO.. 

43 Chatham Street, Boston, or 

3 I'ark I*lace, J^ew York. 



WHEELER'S "ECLIPSE" WIND-MILL. 

yS" ^ -"l*M First Self Rcgulat- 

'^*'— " ' " nig Solid "Wheel 

Mill invented. Im- 
proved upon for 13 
J ears. Over 8000 in 
use, and seen all 
over the Union. 
Vdopted exclusive- 
Ij by over 50 lead- 
ing Kailroada. Ex- 
port returns show 
nioie Lclipso Mills 
bent abroad than 
all other Mills com- 
bined Keceived 
the highest honors 
at Ph iladelphia and 
Pans. Obtained the 
_^ first pveniium at 
ia'the Isew Knyland 
1 ail in Portland, 
1877, audinWorces- 
tei, l'^78 and 1879. 

Tins Mill is per- 
fectly noiseless 
uhtn in operation, 
and as tirni agaiiisc 
a stoiin as a solid 
building. Can be 
made as onianicn- 
talasdesiretl. With 
leath Mill full guar- 
antee of Fatisfac- 
tioiii'' furnished; if 
it lails to satisfy, 
the anioiint paid 
will be refunded. 
We build 19 ditler- 
ent sue?, according 
to the various pur- 
poses and the 
amount of work to 
be accomplished. 

VhwoftheE'clipsc Wind-mi of Janes Vick, Esq., whose Utter we give brlnw. ., , otq 

Mr. L. H. Wheeler, 40 Oliver Street, Boston: Rochester, N. Y., April, 1879. 

Dear Sir,-Having had in use one of yonr 16-foot Wind Engines ^^"^6 1875 I can certify 
to its power and efficiency. During this time it has never been out of repair, and is 
to-day in as good working order as when first erected. ..^^vo/i iw .raiPR T fmd the 

While manv mills of other makes in this vicinity ^/^^ been wrecked by gales I find the 
Eclipse perfectly self controlling, and it does not sulTer the sl'^di fs^ » u y Uom our se 
vprftst winds It furnishes a full supply of water for five Greenhouses, House, btabio, ana 
Lr 1 • igat^^.g purposes or'aVout fifteen acres, through which runs ^^^^'-al thousand fee of 
distributing pipe With medium wind we raise twenty to ihirly barrels per 1'°"^, tuenty- 
five feet 1 ft In short, the working of the mill is so satisfactory that no change is desired, 
i sniauVr mill woXd^^ work, or the one we have would run two such P^^-^^Pg^ ^.^ j^^^^^ 

"''our geared wind-mills are meeting the wants of many ^l>o «eed ^^^^^f P^/^^^^V^^'lS 
machinery, sawing wood, grinding gram, and cutting fodder for ensilage. Prices lango 
from §70 to $1500. 

Below we give the names of a few of our patrons who are well known to the public: 




State Normal School, Framingham 
Jordan, Marsh & Co., " 

RioHAHD Nelson, " 

W. S. PiiKLrs, " 

Wm. H. Wright, 
AV. H. Simpson, 
LuriiEK Fuller, 
Lee Hammond, 
Harvey D. Parker, 
Wm. E. Baker, 

G. W. IlOLLlS, 
A. n. I'HILBRICK, 
J. H. Clapp, 
J. M. Brant, 
John Lane, 
James Allen, 
James S. Edwards, 



Saxonville. 



Wellcsley. 

Grantville. 

Newton. 

Weymouth. 

Bridgewater. 

Quincy. 



Dr. Dio Lewis, 

C. H. FiSK, 

Dr. (:;harles Collis, 

W. Heustis, 

W. Chenery, 

C. Fairchild, 

H. SAWYEIt, 

Bates Estate, 
John Cassjdy, 
Lamon & Sons, 
Frank Jones, 
E. H. Winchester, 
Pierce Estaie, 

Dr. PlLI.SDCHY, 

R. II. Barker, 

J. Warren BIereill, 

G. D. GlLMAN, 



Arlington Heights. 

Stony Brook. 

Walpole. 

Belmont. 



Concord. 
Walertown. 

Nantasket. 
Portsmouth. 

Lowell. 
Boston. 



We have given tlie above names for reference, There are hundreds of these Mills in New England, 

For Ml particulars and Circnlars. apDly to L. E. WEEELER, 40 Oliver St., Boston, Mass. 




kerican llm: Maniif ; Co. 

Manufacturers of Power and Hand 

HOUSE CLIPPIN6 MACHINES, 



ALSO, THE 

ONLY RELIABLE AND SUCCESSFUL 

Sheep Shearing Machine 

That has ever been laut uijon the market. 



NO ROYALTY. 



The Centensiial A^varcl was jsriven at FliiSa- 
delplaia Exposition, 

AND AT 

State Fairs when Exhibited. 




No. 5 Hand Iloree Clipper. 



Gold Medal, Paris, 1870. Butter made by this process 
awarded Sweepstakes at International Dairy Fair, 1878, and Gold 
Medal and l^'irst Premium at the same fair, 1879; First Premium 
at Royal Agricultural Exhibition, London, 1879. 

It requires no milk-room; it raises all of cream between milkings; 
itaffords better ventilation; it requires less labor; it is more thor- 
oughly made; it is cheaper, and gives better saiis^faction than any- 
other way of setting milk. The Butter made by this system is unex- 
celled in its keeping qualities. 

Over eight thousand of these Creamers are now in use, and give 
the best of satisfaction. The best dairymen of the country use and 
recommend them, including Ogden Farm, Newport, R. I., Echo 
Farm, Litchfield, Conn., Winning Farm, Billerica, iMass., Lawrence 
-, . ^ Farm, Groton, Mass., T. S. Cooper, Coopersburg, Penn., Hiratu 

Smith, Sheboygan Falls, Wisconsin, Holley Grove Farm, Plaiufield, N. J., and many others. 





DAVIS SWING CHURN. 

Awarded Pirst Premium over all competitors at only prac- 
tical test ever held at International Dairy Fair. Tlie box contains 
no floats or inside gear, which mash the butter-globules; no corners 
in whith the cream can lodge to be washed into the buttermilk and 
lost when the butter separates. The butter gathers in beautiful 
granules, in tho best possible condition for washing in the churn 
with cold water and brine. This Churn needs only to be seen to be 
appreciated. Is easiest to work; easiest to clean. Sales are increas- 
ing fast where they have been introduced. 



MAIVUFACTITKE© BY 



/ 



THE VERIWONT FARM MACHINE CO., BelJows Falls, Vt, 



Illustrated Circuiars sent on application. 



^V^ I o n? O It. 






For Sowing Wheat, Rye, Oats, Barley or Peas in 
Fallow Ground or between Standing Corn. 



Manufactured by £WAJLD OYER, Indianapolis, Ind. 




It sows five drills at the same time. The two outer hoes on each side are 
placed on two swinging wings of the frame, which, by means of the lever 
between the handles, can be expanded and contracted to suit the different 
widths wanted. The distance between outer teeth at greatest contraction is 
27 inches, and at greatest expansion, 34 inches. 

This implement ought to be in the hands of every farmer in the land> 
Although owners of large tracts of land may be compelled to use the two-horse 
drills, still they can use it for sowing wheat or rye in standing corn. Farmers 
who have but few acres to sow, can use this implement and save thereby the 
expense of a two-horse drill, and get all the advantages of drilling over broad- 
casting. Extra cups furnished to sow peas, beans or corn, if desired. Its weight 
is only 125 pounds, making it an easy draft for one horse. By" closing up the- 
intermediate holes you can sow three drills from 13^ to 17 inches apart. From 

1 to 1^ bushels of seed sowed to the acre, and as good a stand secured as whert 

2 bushels are sowed by hand. 37i to 50 per cent, in amotmt of seed saved, which 
will pay for the machine every 20 or 25 acres sowed, a better crop secured, and 
much labor saved. Orders from parties in New England may be addressed to- 

JOHN B. BAILEY, 

They will receive prompt attention, and save freight charges. 



IMPROVED BALDWIN'S 

Aznericazi Fodder Cutter. 

Especially adapted for Ensilage. 

With a one or two horse tread power, or a small 
engine to drive it, 25 to 50 tons green corn fodder, or 
50 to 100 tons Hungarian, Kye, or similar green forage 
crop, can be easily cut of suitable length for the pur- 
pose of ensilage in one day. 




The above cut represents one of the smaller sizes of the Improved Baldwin Fodder Cutter. 
Before the great demand was created for ensilage cutters in 1880, this machine was known for 
many years as the best cutter in the world for cutting hay, dry corn fodder, paper, rags, etc., 
and our claim that it would prove the best ensilage cutter has been thoroughly sustained by 
the entire satisfaction it has given the hundreds of persons who have used these machines 
for this purpose. We give below a few of the many testimonials we have received from 
parties using them f er cutting ensilage. 



Weymouth, Mass., October 15, 1880. 
The " Baldwin Hay Cutter, " Ko. 15, purchased of you, is all that I could wish. I used it 
in cutting heavy corn fodder for ensilage: it performed the work well and rapidljr, cutting 
two tons per hour, so fast that it required two men to feed it. I can recommend it to any 
one desirous of having a good cutter. Very truly yours, F. E. LOUD. 

Hallowell, Me., October 15, 1880. 
The Baldwin Fodder Cutter gives me entire satisfaction. I believe it is the best fodder 
cutter in use. Yours truly, J. R. BOD WELL. 



These machines are built of the best materials, and in the most thorough manner, and 
are of great strength, simplicity and durability. Each cutter that is arranged for power is 
supplied with the patent safety fly wheel, by which entire safety is secured to operators and 
machine when in operation". Descriptive circulars mailed on application. 

Manufactured for and for sale by 

jossfh; bksck a soits, 

61, 52, and 53 North Market St., - - - - Boston, Mass. 



Joseph Breck &; Sons 

Are makinff a Specialty of all MJ-CHINES, IMP1.EMENTS and SEEDS 
that are especially adapted to the requirements of the Ensilagist, and solicit 
correspondence on the subject. 

The following articles are almost indispensable : 




A.LSO,- 



The "Aivancg" Chilled Flow and Thomas' Umiii and Smoothing Barrow, 



For Preparing tlie Land; 



Fearce's Improved Broad>Casl Seed Sower, Albany Com and Seed Tlanter, 



For Sowing the Seed; 



Whitman's Improved Railway Horse Power, 

For operating the Ensilage Cutter; 



The liigbitiiing Hay and £nsila^e Knife, 

For cutting down Ensilage in the silo. 

We shall be happy to mail descriptive circulars and quote prices on any of the 
foregoing articles. Also, our catalogues of Garden, Grass and Field Seed, and of 
Machines and Implements, are valuable as text books, and we furnish them free on 
application. 

Joseph. Breck c& Sons, 

&1, 5^ and 53 JSToTtK J\IcLrket Street, 
BOSTON, MASS. 




zisilae:© 




( Trade Mark of the N. Y. Plow Company. ) 

Combines great rapidity with strength, durability and simplicity of parts. 
It has four spiral knives of heavy cast steel. The length of cut is easily 
changed. The two rollers open both parallel and obliquely, and cannot be 
clogged. The cylinder revolves without jar, and cuts with exactness. The 
mouthpiece is of hard steel, with its cutting edge planed, and the knives cut 
itpwjard, which is essential to safety. It has tight and loose- belt pulleys and 
babbitted boxes. 

We have made a special study of Cutters for Ensilage, and claim to know 
about them. 

No. 1. — Length of knives, 12 inches. Length of cut, 4-10, 8-10 in. 

Price, $75.00 

No. 2. — Length of knives, 15 inches. Length of cut, 3-10, 4-10, 5-10, 
7-10 in. Diam. pulleys, 22 in. Weight of balance wheel 
150 lbs. Will cut 2 tons dry or 4 tons green stalks per hour. 
Price, 125.00 

No 3.— Length of knives, 18 inches. Length of cut, 2-10, 4-10, G-10, 
8-10, 1 2-10 in. Weight of balance wheel, 400 lbs. Diam. 
pulleys, 26 in. Will cut 4 tons dry or 8 tons green stalks 
per hour. This cutter is now in use by the largest ensilagist 
in the United States. Price, 250.00 

Extra for Elevator, 15.00 

Smaller Cutters for power, $25.00 and 60.00 

" " " hand, $7.00, $9.00, $15.00, $20.00 and 35.00 

MANUFACTURED BY 

THE NEW YORE PLOW COMPANY 

55 Beekman St., New York. 

WE ALSO MANUFACTURE 

Adamant (Hard Metal) Plows, and all other kinds of Ne-w 

York and Boston Plows, and I'epairs for same, Strongs 

Sul>>Soil Plows, Corn and Cabbag^e Plows, HilBingr 

Cultivators, Disk Harrows, Corn Planters, Field 

and Oarden Rollers, Corn Stalk Mow^ers and 

Droppers, Corn Sliellers, Root Cutters, Cider 

Mills, Copper Strip Feed Cutters, L.awn 

Mow^ers, Press Screw^s and 

Manure Spreaders. 



CIRCULARS FREE AND CORRESPONDENCE SOLICITED. 



T. B. HXJSSEY, 



MANUFACTUREK OF 



EMENTS. 




HUSSET'S NEW HORSE HOE 

AND 

CULTIVATOR COMBINED. 
THE 
CENTENNIAL IMPROVED. 

"WITH 

Five Steel Teeth, 

AND 

Two Steel Mould'- 
boards. 



The Economizer Portable Engine. 



Is the most com- 
plete, simple, dura- 
ble, and economical 
Steam Engine, for 
Farm and Agricultu- 
ral purposes, known. 

Over six hundred 
now in use. 




All its parts are ac- 
cessible for cleaning. 
Its boiler Las no dan- 
gerous crown-sheet^ 
therefore can be op- 
erated with inexperi- 
enced help. • 

Send for illustrated 
circular and prices. 



S. L. HOLT & CO., 

No. 67 8-adb-ary Street, Boston. 



m'M \ *!*■ 










UBRARY OF CONGRESS 




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